As reported by The Inquisitr , NXT superstar Jordan Myles took to social media over the weekend, accusing WWE in a series of tweets that claimed the company’s initial design for his official T-shirt was racist in nature. This was followed by an official statement from the promotion, claiming that Myles approved the controversial design, only to ask that it be changed later on.
On Monday, Myles leveled more accusations against WWE in response to the statement and, per Newsweek , also referred to former Ring of Honor colleague Jay Lethal as an “Uncle Tom” for allegedly preventing his fellow African Americans from moving up the independent promotion’s card. All these topics — as well as Myles’ original allegations — were covered that same day by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who called the 31-year-old grappler out on his podcast and blasted him in general for blowing things out of proportion, as cited extensively in a report from WrestlingNews.co .
Commenting on whether he thinks WWE deliberately created a racist T-shirt for Myles, Booker, who is also African American, said on his Hall of Fame podcast that he feels there are “a lot of negative people” on social media who try to play the racism card even when it isn’t warranted.
“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.”
After positing that Myles should have settled his issues with WWE in private, Booker claimed that he properly “handled” every racially-charged situation he encountered during his lengthy wrestling career, all while never complaining about these issues on social media. He then addressed Myles’ comment about Jay Lethal being an “Uncle Tom,” saying that he disagrees with this assessment, having known the independent wrestling veteran for close to two decades.
@WWE @WWENXT @VinceMcMahon @TripleH Made an extremely racist, unmistakably recognizable “Black Face” shirt for @GoGoMyles . He (Myles) doesn’t even wear these colors so this was an idea that made it all the way to fruition without anyone standing up…inexcusable. ?? pic.twitter.com/g58ENNaCbS
— Vagabond EP – OUT NOW ? (@TheNoveliss) October 27, 2019
“I’ve heard people call me an Uncle Tom and if they do it, I wish they would do it to my face,” Booker added. “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.”
Offering his final thoughts on the matter, Booker asked that people leave his name out of Myles’ ongoing, real-life feud with WWE. He stressed his belief that social and media do not mix well, also opining that the issue cannot be compared to that of quarterback Colin Kaepernick , who hasn’t played in the NFL since the end of the 2016 season and has allegedly been blackballed by team owners for his national anthem protests.
As of this writing, WWE has yet to respond to Myles’ latest allegations, which, as the aforementioned Newsweek report noted, included a now-deleted tweet where he said that the company “doesn’t care” about African Americans. The wrestler, who previously competed in the independent scene as ACH (Albert Christian Hardie), also accused the promotion of being a “fraud,” further calling it out for bringing back Hulk Hogan despite the racist comments he allegedly made in a 2015 leaked recording.