Former Chiefs Running Back Kareem Hunt Removed From ‘Madden NFL 19’

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt is no longer in “Madden NFL 19,” CNN reports.

Publisher EA Sports reportedly pulled Hunt from the game on Wednesday. He was cut from the Chiefs last week after TMZ published a video of him shoving and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel back in February. No charges have been filed in the case, but the NFL and law enforcement are investigating.

told CNN Hunt is being replaced by a generic player with similar statistics. “The updates have fully gone through now so Hunt has been removed from the game and players who were using him for Ultimate Team have their replacement player,” said EA Sports spokesperson Brad Hilderbrand.

Players shouldn’t notice any impact on on-field performance, he added.

This is not the first time EA Sports has replaced a NFL player in one of its “Madden” games. It also cut former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice from the roster of “Madden NFL 15” in 2014. Like Hunt, Rice was released by his team after TMZ video surfaced of him allegedly assaulting his then-fiancee and current wife, Janay Rice, in a New Jersey casino elevator. He later pleaded not guilty and agreed to a pretrial intervention program so the charges could be dismissed.

A year prior to the Rice incident, EA Sports removed former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez from “Madden NFL 25” after he was charged with the murder of New England Football League linebacker Odin Lloyd. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. While on trial for Lloyd’s murder, he was also indicted in a separate double homicide, but was later acquitted. He was found dead in his cell shortly after that acquittal. His death was ruled a suicide.