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Earlier in 2022, Brian Kendrick was pulled from a scheduled AEW match against Jon Moxley after antisemitic comments he made online over a decade ago resurfaced online and were made aware to AEW management.Â
During a recent interview with the Duke Loves Rasslin podcast, Kendrick once again apologize and explain that heâs learned much since his comments were made:
âBack then, I was trying to create some sort of buzz and I didnât care who I offended. When it gets thrown back in your face, one, itâs embarrassing, two, youâre forced to reflect on it. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry for being so cold-hearted and trying to profit off of tragedy. I suppose thatâs what it was. I was trying to gain off of otherâs tragedies but making conspiracies and creating a buzz for myself to gain bookings. It was a terrible idea. Even if it hadnât affected anybody, itâs horribly embarrassing. I am sorry for anybodyâŠto people I hurt, for making light of stuff that happened to them or their family. I hope you accept that.â
"A friend of mine recommended Survivor Mitzvah. I recommend that too. Seems to be an honest charity where the money goes directly to. My actions, as far as hoping to be kinder, if itâs a question of understanding the tragedies of the past, the truth is, I understood all that long ago, prior to these statements. Years ago, as part of WWE, Beth Phoenix and I went to Dokha. As a teenager, I went to the holocaust museum with my grandfather. I know these things. It hasnât dawned on me that these tragedies might have happened, itâs stuff I knew. What I was doing was, trying to profit off of that and trying to become a villain who would make light of such tragedy. Itâs a disgusting thing to do and I did it.â
âI did lose my job. I fought hard for a few months to get my release from the WWE in hopes to go wrestle, thatâs what I want to do. I wanted to wrestle. I managed to get my release and get an opportunity with AEW. I had a contract and they didnât that, at this time, it was not the right time to keep me employed. Things need to get figured out. I understand. Itâs the way it is. Luckily, I havenât lost many friends. Iâve had a lot of friends reach out. Some friends reaching out really made me cry and touched me. I understand the humor in it too. âCry me a river, this guy loses his job, the guy who goofed on the holocaust.â I understand the cosmic humor in all of it. Jokes on me,â he said. âThese werenât videos that were under a hot mic. I knew what I was saying and what I was trying to do was trying to offend. The truth is, at a certain point, you have to start taking life seriously and pissing people off and offending them are two different things. Itâs one thing to piss them off. Itâs another thing to offend them. I donât want to offend anybody, but ten years ago, I didnât give a shit.â
âThis has been a big lesson in hubris and humility. Anybody who goes through this same experience, saying some horrible things, having to come back at the right time to affect you, I think theyâll figure out that the little bits of kindness that you receive become so special and you really start to lose any judgment towards other people. If somebody were to say something, you know not to take them seriously, their actions, you can look at them. once youâve made these kinds of mistakes and are forced to dwell on them, you can forgive people pre-emptively. Any advice I would give is, try to do that without having to go through this.â
âI understand why somebody wouldnât be the first. Thatâs going to be an issue. âWho is going to be the first one to do it? Who is going to be the one to risk the backlash?â Me, personally, Iâd be more inclined to. Weâve had incidents in the past with people on my roster and I would have no problem with using this guy, but thatâs me and people have to decide whatâs best for them. Thatâs for the individual to decide. I would say that, I donât want to be in a place of judgment. I donât want to be the one who decides if I have a shot or not because itâs not for me to decide. I recognize I have my own flaws.â
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