Saturday, July 1, 2023

An interview with AEW's openly gay, Black wrestler, and the warm reception he's getting from the audience


Andscape:
What was your understanding of how queer wrestlers, or people who played queer characters on TV, were portrayed coming up?

I really started to pay attention to all that once [former WWE wrestler] Darren Young came out in 2013, because around that time was when I really started to think about becoming a professional wrestler. That’s when I started to pay attention to how the representation was. And it didn’t look too good for me back then, which is why I stayed in the closet. 
...
You originally came out via a YouTube video where it’s said in passing. How did you decide this would be the moment that you come out publicly.

I met my boyfriend in May of 2016, and we dated secretly for six months or so. One of his dreams was to have a YouTube channel and make a video with me once we got together. And I was like, “I’m not entirely sure. I’m not out yet. I promise I’ll be out one day. I need to be ready for it.” He understood, but he was slightly hurt that he had to continue to be this secret. And then I was like, “You know what? You don’t really have that many subscribers, so I don’t think anybody’s going to see this. Let’s make this video.”

We made the video and a few months later, one of my buddies who’s a wrestler messaged me. He is like, “Hey, we saw the video. I wish you would have told us. Everybody saw it really. They love you. They respect you.” And once I saw that, I just knew that I had this opportunity to help other people who were in my shoes because I had the support of my best friends. I had the support of my family. Now I had the support of people in wrestling, which meant a lot to me. So I ended up coming out in January of 2017, and when that video took off, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since in a very, very positive way.
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