WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and WWE Superstar Titan O’Neil have both addressed the controversy surrounding Jordan Myles and the NXT Breakout Superstar’s reaction to his official WWE t-shirt design — which Myles and many other wrestlers, fans, and journalists within the wrestling community have described as racist.
Booker T addressed the situation on the latest episode of his radio show and podcast, The Hall of Fame, with co-host Brad Gilmore. The Booker Man did not pull any punches with Myles and is very concerned with how the younger star raised his issues, as well as his use of a derogatory term for another African American wrestler, Jay Lethal, in a since deleted tweet.
Read his full statement below:
I don’t know how this t-shirt got out without him knowing about it. It’s not our job to step up and defend Jordan Myles over his t-shirt.
…a lot of negative people on social media that’s looking for anything that they can possibly find to make racial. It happens all the time. Is it a racially driven concept of a t-shirt? In 2019, I cannot think that the guys actually went into it thinking ‘let’s make a racial shirt about Jordan Myles.’ A lot of people may think that but I just don’t think the firestorm is worth going through this. It’s just not.
This going to social media crap is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You can be working at Jack in the Box and if something happens, you want to go to social media and talk about it. Your business and your job is your business with that company. It’s not for the world to come in. I don’t know when is the last time somebody on social media signed my check.
I never complained to social media about any racial situation that I’ve been in and I’ll tell you right now if anybody knows me, anybody in this wrestling knows Booker T, they know exactly what I have gone through and how I’ve handled every situation. There’s never been a racial issue that has gone over my head or that I’ve swept under the rug. Every single time someone has said anything racial around me, I’ve handled it. And to hear this Uncle Tom crap … I’ve known Jay Lethal. Jay Lethal’s put in almost 20 years in this business, he’s no Uncle Tom. I’ve heard people call me an Uncle Tom and if they do it, I wish they would do it to my face. Don’t do it behind those characters, don’t do it behind social media, don’t do it behind a cloak of anonymity. Do it in my face because I will show you what an Uncle Tom really looks like.
… social media and your business, they don’t go together. That’s just my opinion on that and leave my name out of this crap … I’m standing way back on this one because this could have been handled a whole lot different than it’s being handled. This is not a Colin Kaepernick moment. Let’s just get that straight, first and foremost. If anybody got something to say, I’m a very easy man to find. I’m at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, California kicking back and relaxing.
Titus O’Neil, an active WWE Superstar and an individual noted for his heavy involvement in charity work, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the matter.
https://twitter.com/titusoneilwwe/status/1188908142148673537?s=21
Wrestling insider and journalist Dave Meltzer has reported that all his sources state that the Jordan Myles/Albert Hardie Jr. situation is not a work.
Jay Lethal is reported to have broken his arm at Ring of Honor’s Honor United show in the UK over the weekend. Lethal, a former colleague of Myles in ROH, has yet to offer any statement on the comment Myles made about him.
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