The Ray Rice elevator incident stems from leaked security footage from 2014 showing the former NFL player assaulting his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator. The video's release by TMZ sparked a massive national conversation about domestic violence and the NFL's disciplinary policies. In the context of internet culture, the imagery is sometimes used as a dark or cautionary template to represent a sudden, unavoidable disaster or the severe fallout of an action. While highly controversial, it remains a significant touchstone in the intersection of sports media and viral internet history.