In 2014, Minnesota Vikings played Adrian was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a felony charge for allegedly beating his then 4-year-old son with a :switch” on his back, buttocks, genitals, ankles, and legs. The boy had lacerations all over his body. Peterson said that was how he was punished as a child in Texas.
Peterson pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of misdemeanor reckless assault and avoided jail time. He also received a two-year probation period, a $4,000 fine and 80 hours of community service and faced a one-year suspension in the NFL. He was suspended for the rest of the 2014 season.
In February 2022, Peterson was arrested on a domestic violence charge by the Los Angeles Airport Police, He posted a $50,000 bond but managed to get his wife to drop the charges.
Peterson’s reward for all this? Tonight he debuts on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“DWTS” returns to ABC tonight after a season of being banished to Disney Plus. But ABC needed programming to fill the void left by the strikes, and “DWTS” is popular and cheap. And now it features a child abuser, something you can’t always get on a network show.
Among tonight’s other celebrity dancers: maybe their first Oscar winner, Mira Sorvino; Britney Spears’s sister, Jamie; singer Jason Mraz. It’s; the usual jumble of B-listers otherwise.
There may be pickets outside “DWTS” tonight as SAG AFTRA is still on strike, and the Writers Guild strike isn’t officially over. Sorvino is certainly in SAG, as is the show’s host, Alfonso Ribiero. But “DWTS” is under the same contract as the soap operas and talk shows. So technically it can go on. But it’s not a good look for union members to be tripping the light fantastic until all the strikes are completely resolved — especially with a child abuser included.
