An executive producer for TMZ — which published disturbing video of NFL player Ray Rice knocking his then-fiancee unconscious — said Monday he believed the league knew about the footage before the public saw it.

In an interview with Fox, Harvey Levin said he thought the NFL "turned a blind eye" to the video of Rice beating his now-wife, Janay Rice, in an elevator. Earlier on Monday, the NFL said it did not see the footage of Rice beating Janay before Monday. The NFL says it requested that video from law enforcement but never got it.



For his part, Levin did not say in the Fox news clip that the NFL had actually seen the video. Rather, he said the NFL knew that it was out there — a fact the NFL didn't seem to contradict in its statement Monday.

"It's a shameful story that the NFL knew that the surveillance video existed," Levin said. It was "no secret," he added, that Rice had to pull his fiancee out of an elevator because he'd knocked her unconscious.

Levin did not provide any evidence that the NFL flagrantly ignored the videotape, but he suggested he would do so on Tuesday in TMZ.

"When you wake up tomorrow and go to the website, our website ... you will see what the NFL didn't do," he said.

The NFL was widely criticized for initially suspending Rice for just two games after his alleged assault. Following the release of the video Monday, the Baltimore Ravens cut Rice, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely.