Anthony Bowens On Receving Homophobic Abuse At AEW Show
The AEW wrestler responds to the vile homophobic insult thrown at him last week.
Anthony Bowens has responded to the vile homophobic insult that was directed at him during last week's episode of AEW Dynamite, on which he was teaming with regular partner Max Caster and 2point0 to face Jurassic Express and The Varsity Blonds.
As well as being audible through the microphones, the slur made it to Bowens himself. Speaking with TMZ Sports, the Acclaimed man said that this was the first time he'd heard anything of this nature during a performance or on television, adding that prior to this, his interactions with fans had been entirely positive:-
"Unfortunately that kind of stuff comes with the territory, being an out LGBTQ athlete. This is actually the first time that I’ve audibly heard something like that during a performance or during television. It’s not indicative of the AEW fans at all, because any interactions that I’ve had with them since starting with the company has all been positive, so that’s the first time that’s actually happened in that sense."
The 30-year-old continued, mentioning the abuse he and boyfriend Michael used to receive through their YouTube channel. He is ultimately glad that the cameras picked this insult up, however, is it shows there is still work to be done to prevent such things from happening in the future:-
"I have really thick skin -- I’m kind of used to it from, like my boyfriend Michael and I, we have our YouTube channel 'Michael & Anthony.' And when we first started that, woof, the comments were brutal. I can’t even repeat them. So we’re kind of just used to that, but there’s always kind of one person that kind of just oversteps the line. And this time it was picked up on camera -- and I’m kind of glad it was because it just amplifies the message that we still have work to do, but it also shows that there’s so much positivity out there, like you said from the response, so that was really awesome to see."
And if Bowens had the opportunity to speak with the culprit, he would use it to try and educate them:-
"I’m not kind of the reactive type. I’m the type of person that likes to have a conversation. And honestly, if I did meet him, I’d sit him down and listen to him and I'd hope he'd listen to me and hope that we can find some common ground or at least educate him to why that was wrong to do. And I hope the person grows. I think instead of just kind of beating down other people and throwing back the negativity that they’re giving to you, it’s an opportunity to educate and help the person become a better human being."
Bowens has been signed to AEW since November 2020, when he and Caster inked five-year deals with the Tony Khan-helmed promotion.