NFL star Ray Rice loses $40m football contract after knocking out fiancé

Fellow athletes and even President Obama condemned Ray Rice after a video showing the NFL star knocking out his fiancée surfaced.

17:57 09 September 2014

Following new video footage showing Ray Rice assaulting and knocking his fiancé out cold in an elevator, Baltimore Ravens have terminated Ray Rice’s $40 million contract.

The football player may also not be allowed to go back to the field after the NFL football organisation announced his indefinite suspension.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has condemned the footballer saying “hitting a woman is not something a real man does.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest released a short statement following consultations with the president, saying: 'The President is the father of two daughters. And like any American, he believes that domestic violence is contemptible and unacceptable in a civilized society.’

'Hitting a woman is not something a real man does, and that's true whether or not an act of violence happens in the public eye, or, far too often, behind closed doors.

'Stopping domestic violence is something that's bigger than football – and all of us have a responsibility to put a stop to it.'

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said that he met with President Dick Cass, GM Ozzie, and owner Steve Bisciotti after the video was released.

'After seeing something this morning, seeing the video this morning, we had a chance to get together with Steve, Dick, Ozzie and myself and we had a meeting. It was not a long meeting. We came to the decision we came to to release Ray and that's what we did.’