Last week in Knoxville, two former University of Tennessee football players were acquitted of rape in an incident that happened nearly four years ago. Longtime NFL defensive end Robert Ayers, a free agent who most recently played for the Buccaneers and who played at Tennessee before the two accused players, had some harsh words for the woman who made the accusation.
Responding to a tweet noting that former players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams were found not guilty, Ayers wrote, “Now she needs to be charged. Has to be some type of punishment for that nonsense or it’ll keep happening. Falsely accused that man of rape to ruin his life cause of hurt feelings. Lock her ass up. Plus it’s disrespectful to the real rape victims out there.”
A not guilty verdict is not the same thing as a finding that the accuser lied, but Ayers took it that way, referring to the woman as “a real criminal but nothin will ever happen to her.”
Johnson and Williams maintained that they had consensual sex with the woman. They were both suspended from the Tennessee football team after the incident and never played for Tennessee again.