Former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens came to his wife Hope Solo's defense following the growing controversy surrounding a domestic violence accusation that allegedly occurred last summer.
"It is a witch hunt, you can put that in the paper," Stevens told USA Today.
Solo was charged following an arrest in June 2014 for allegedly attacking her then 17-year-old nephew at her half-sister's home. Solo has denied the accusation and claimed her nephew was the assailant in the incident.
A judge dismissed the case against Solo in January, though prosecutors have appealed to reopen it. Stevens expressed displeasure at how Solo has been portrayed now that the Women's World Cup has begun.
"I think that what's hard is that she's the victim of something that was really scary and a really unfortunate incident," Stevens said. "[She] being classified even remotely close to Ray Rice and these other domestic violence incidents is ridiculous and outright wrong."
The U.S. women's team is 1-0-1 in World Cup play thus far and Solo has excelled on the field.
U.S. Soccer has supported Solo and has no plans to remove her due to the attention she's received from the case. In his interview with USA Today, Stevens blasted ESPN for its Outside the Lines report on what happened the night Solo was arrested. The reported aired one day before the U.S. started World Cup play.
"Nothing less than unpatriotic," Stevens said. "Low class, low class. It was super intentional. I don't know what their issue is personally with Hope, but it definitely feels like they have one."