In an interview with the Mike & Ike Show on 94WIP (a CBS Radio station), Simmons spoke to the incident between Rice, a former player for the Baltimore Ravens, and his then-girlfriend and now-wife, whom Rice was shown punching and assaulting in video obtained by TMZ, leading to his release from his team.

"My opinion is, if he was in jail for a day and became somebody's girlfriend maybe he'd knew what abuse is life, but that's another story," Simmons told the station. "I'm against physical violence of anybody. You raise your hand to somebody you should he held accountable, not just in the legal system. It's unsportsmanlike."

Simmons added that he felt the "saddest part" of the ordeal was that "Rice's wife or fiancee isn't copping to the fact that she was abused. More than abused - knocked out, the physical stuff."