Booker T is weighing in on the recent accusations made by D-Von Dudley about alleged racism from a top WWE official—and heâ€s not shying away from addressing the elephant in the room.
On his Hall of Fame podcast,Booker T responded to D-Vonâ€s claim that a WWE official once told him they didnâ€t like him because of the color of his skin. Although D-Von never said a name, he referred to the person as being known for wearing a “ten-gallon hatâ€â€”a clear reference many fans took as being about Jim Ross.
Booker confirmed that when he joined WWE in 2001, the man in charge of talent relations was indeed JR—the same person who held that position when the Dudley Boyz came to WWE in 1998.
“Now, coming to WWE — and that brings me to what happened with D-Von Dudley. D-Von said that someone didnâ€t like him because of the color of his skin, and that one person, I think, was being implied to be JR. They said ‘10-gallon hat,†yeah, thatâ€s exactly who they were talking about. So, I came in around 2001, and the person I had to deal with was JR. Now, I donâ€t know if JR had talent relations at that time — yeah, he was head of talent relations. He was also head of talent relations back in â€98 when D-Von and Bubba had to deal with him.â€
Despite the timeline overlap, Booker made it clear that his experience with Jim Ross was entirely different.
“JR was actually the one guy who convinced me to tell my story — about what I went through — because he told me, and I quote, ‘You can help so many people with your story. You can help so many people.†Thatâ€s what I remember about JR.â€
Booker T acknowledged that different people can have different experiences—even with the same person—and didnâ€t try to discredit D-Vonâ€s account.
“So, a lot of people have different stories about the same person, you know what I mean? I donâ€t discount anything D-Von said — I believe him, I believe him 100%. Iâ€m not going to sit here and deny it. But in my situation — have I dealt with racism in this business? Of course I have. Have I experienced racism? Yes.â€
This comes just days after D-Von Dudley appeared on a podcast and made the following statement about his time in WWE:
“No, I didnâ€t experience it when we were together because when we got together, we were in ECW, and in ECW, I did not experience it. I experienced it in WWE. I experienced it with certain top officials, though I donâ€t really want to say any names. I didnâ€t wear a ten gallon hat or anything, but when a person comes up to you and tells you they donâ€t like you because of the color of your skin, you sit there thinking, ‘Wow, really? Itâ€s 1999 or 2000, and youâ€re still saying stuff like this?â€â€
While Booker defended JR based on his personal dealings with him, he didnâ€t try to silence or disprove D-Vonâ€s perspective—bringing more depth to an ongoing conversation about racism in professional wrestling.
This story continues to unfold, and the ball is now in Jim Ross†court if he chooses to address the allegations directly.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
Do you think Jim Ross should publicly respond to the allegations? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
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