Ray Rice hasn’t found many media defenders on Monday after the Baltimore Ravens terminated his contract and and the NFL suspended him indefinitely following the release of surveillance video showing him punching out his then-fiancée Janay Palmer. Until now.

During an appearance with Steve Malzberg on NewsMax TV, Dr. Ben Carson shared his opinions on the matter, in essence defending Rice and laying near equal blame on Palmer.

“I’m hopeful they will get some help for him,” Carson said, after being asked whether he agreed with the moves today by the team and the league. “I mean, obviously anyone who would do something like that needs some help.”

“And let’s not all jump on the bandwagon of demonizing this guy,” Carson continued. “He obviously has some real problems, and his wife obviously knows that, because she subsequently married him. So they both need some help. So rather than just jumping on a punitive bandwagon, let’s just see if we can get some help for these people.”