Carlito Defends Controversial ‘I Gotta Learn Chinese’ Line From WWE Raw, Reveals He Rejected Legends Contract Offer After Royal Rumble 2021

– During a recent interview with Refin’ It Up, former WWE Superstar Carlito addressed his infamous, controversial line on WWE Raw. During an October 2024 backstage segment, Carlito stated, “I gotta learn Chinese,” after Damage CTRL’s Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane walked out of Pearce’s office. Both wrestlers are Japanese. The line was unscripted, and it’s rumored that people backstage were in disbelief that Carlito said it.

Additionally, Carlito also revealed that WWE offered him a Legends contract back in 2021 after he appeared in the 2021 Royal Rumble. However, he said the deal was terrible, and he was legally advised not to sign it. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Carlito on how he improvised the controversial line: “The only one was the IYO SKY thing which, I don’t know, people — and that one I just improvised live but, that wasn’t even a racist thing. It was a language thing… I wanted to get on something but they told me not to say anything… It has nothing to do with race. This character is oblivious to things. I was like, ‘Oh man, people are just damn sensitive these days…’ (It was) like a throwaway line.”

On not viewing it as a racist comment: “[Agreeing with the co-host that the line was not racist] I didn’t either. All of a sudden, this is racist. What are you talking about? It was like, no, you dumbasses… It could have been somebody talking Italian and I said, oh, I gotta speak French, you know what I mean? That was the joke. But, in the writers’ defense, that one was live. I just threw it out there… and nobody was responsible but me. That was all me, so, I feel bad for the writers… People told me that. Thankful that I didn’t pass it (the blame). I was like, ‘Bro, I’m not gonna do that.’ I’m not built that way. I’ll just take it on the chin. If it was me, it was me. I don’t wanna get anybody else in trouble.”

Carlito on his Legends contract offer in 2021: “During that time, they offered me a contract but they low-balled me. I think it was 2015. They low-balled me and then, they didn’t even take a counter-offer. They didn’t even call me for the counter-offer. I said, ‘Alright, then, you can go fornicate yourself.’ ‘Well, alright, okay,’ and then after the (2021 Royal) Rumble, they offered me a Legends contract, and it was just a terrible — I gave it to my lawyer, he goes, ‘Bro, don’t even sign this,’ and it was (Mark) Carrano, and he didn’t even call me. This time was by text. So I was like, ‘Okay, I see how serious this is.’ I was like, ‘Alright, thanks buddy,’ and I kept it professional again. I said, ‘No, thank you. I have to pass’ or whatever.”

As noted, Carlito recently exited WWE after his contract expired. He is currently a free agent.