Kareem Hunt Says He's Going To Get Treatment for Anger Issues, Believes He Deserves Forgiveness

Kareem Hunt addressed the altercation he had with a woman in February during a sit-down interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters on Sunday morning.

Hunt lost his job with the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday just hours after a video emerged of him shoving and kicking a woman in a hotel in Cleveland. Hunt apologized on ESPN for his actions and said he’d take full responsibility for what comes of the incident.

He said he is seeking counseling. He was asked if he feels like he has a problem with anger management.

“It could be an issue,” Hunt told ESPN on Sunday morning. “I feel like everyone gets angry sometimes. I’m going to get treatment on it. I want to just make sure nothing like this happens again.”

The woman has not filed a lawsuit, but Hunt could face misdemeanor charges, according to USA TODAY. The woman has yet to speak publicly about the incident, but told police she thought Hunt should be arrested at the night of the incident.

How will he go forward from this incident?

“Taking it day by day,” Hunt said. “Bettering myself and just earning, earning people’s trust back. And just not worrying about it and seeing where it goes from there.”

He was asked whether he had made contact with the woman from the incident. He said that he had only met her once before the incident and didn’t know how to get in touch with her. But he did have a message for her on air on Sunday.

“If I could, I would want to tell her right now that I am sorry for my actions right now,” Hunt said.

He added: “You can’t really explain it. The video shows it. I was in the wrong. I’m not that type of person. I’m really disappointed in myself.”

Hunt was not this forthcoming about the incident at the time of the transgression. He lied to the Chiefs about the incident, and did not receive discipline. The Chiefs and the NFL did not see the video prior to its release on Friday. The NFL did not reach out to Hunt or the woman during their investigation.

Hunt explained how the conversation went with the Chiefs when they released him on Friday.

“I lied to them, so they said, ‘We love you. Everybody cares about you. Just, we’ve got to let you go. We all care about you.’ It was a tough conversation,” Hunt said. “The Chiefs — they did what was right. I made a poor decision. I’m wiling to take any responsibility of any actions that come from this point on.”

He will likely face a suspension of at least six games, as the NFL intends to punish Hunt for this incident and a separate altercation he had with a man in June, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Hunt is current on the commissioner’s exempt list, which means he cannot report to a team facility. Because the Chiefs waved Hunt, he has entered waivers and, if a team claims him, the league will announce that move on Monday at 4 p.m. If no team claims him, he will enter free agency. He cannot serve his suspension until claimed by a team.

“I’m asking for forgiveness. I definitely believe I deserve forgiveness,” Hunt said. “I think I deserve it because if you really know me and everybody that I’m really close to — I’ve had woman really close women that are friends and everybody. I’m so respectful to everyone and I made a bad decision at that time and I just hope that people will forgive me.”

Hunt was asked to explain why and how the incident escalated. Hunt said he wanted her to leave, but was vague on details.

“There was definitely some things that were said and did that I did not like, and that’s not an excuse,” Hunt said. “That person in the video did not deserve that. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody or anything like that. And it’s really tough. It’s tough because I feel like I let a lot of people down.”