D-Von Dudley Clarifies Reaction to Vince McMahon Using N-Word

Last year, when asked by Maven about Vince McMahon’s use of the N-word slur, D-Von Dudley was somewhat diplomatic, saying, “I don’t know what to say about that. Luckily, I wasn’t in the company during that time. I was in another organization, but damn.”

D-Von has since become more outspoken about racism in the business, specifically calling out Jim Ross. And now he does know what to say about the Vince incident, in which McMahon, as part of a skit, “jokingly” addressed John Cena using the word, while Booker T did a double take upon hearing it.

In an interview with DJ Vlad, as transcribed by WrestlingNews.co, D-Von now says, “I was offended by it to the point where I had stopped watching the WWE for a while and I just concentrated on TNA and what I was doing there. That type of stuff has no business in pro wrestling.”

“I definitely feel that was for shock value. It did get a reaction, but I don’t think it was the right reaction. I don’t think it’s the reaction that they thought they were going to get,” he said.

D-Von noted that the business has a long history of systemic racism and not pushing Black athletes, so there’s really no room to play it as a joke. He also called for Black wrestlers to stick together and not take public potshots at each other (outside of kayfabe), saying, “once you start fighting amongst each other, that’s where you have to stop and realize the ones that don’t care for us want this to happen. Don’t air your dirty laundry out in public. Lock yourselves in a room, talk about it and air it out there.”