D-Von Dudley Responds To Jim Ross Saying He Never Made Racist Remark, Details Two Incidents

Jim Ross recently denied he ever made a racist remark toward D-Von Dudley, something that D-Von pushed back against in detail in a new video. As you may recall, Dudley recalled an incident when he encountered racism in WWE when the Dudleys appeared on Maven’s YouTube channel for an interview. Bully Ray asked D-Von if he ever experienced racism when they were together, and D-Von said not in ECW but in WWE. It was strongly inferred that D-Von was referring to Jim Ross, something D-Von later confirmed.

Ross responded to the claim on his podcast recently, noting that he never made such a remark. Ross said that he liked the Dudleys and “never had a cross word” with D-Von. He went on to suggest that D-Von did it for attention, noting, “Maybe he’s not as happy with his post-wrestling life as Bubba is, because Bubba’s made a tremendous success himself as a broadcaster and still works.”

D-Von released a new video on his channel with Maven in which he responds to JR’s comments. He detailed two separate incidents, both of whom had witnesses, where he says Ross expressed racist comments directly toward him. Maven said of the comments that “all the brothers knew that backstage.” You can see the highlights below:

On When the First Incident Happened:

“The thing about it also is, he came to me and Bubba and said it. So again, I’ll go back. It was at the WWE Restaurant, the grand opening of it. We were mingling with some of the guests that were there. A lot of them were artists, musical artists, things like that. And there were some actors and actresses that were there. WWE really rolled out the red carpet for this event. It was huge.”

On How It Went Down:

“And I remember being upstairs and Bubba was like, ‘Let’s go downstairs and see what’s going on down there.’ So we went downstairs, and as we’re downstairs, we’re looking around. And it was like another private room, downstairs in the basement of the restaurant. And there was so many people upstairs we were just like, ‘All right, let’s just chill down here for a second.’ Which is what we did. Here comes JR. JR comes down and we’re like, ‘JR, how you doing?’ ‘Hey, JR.’ ‘Boys, how you guys doing?’ ‘Good, JR.’ Me and Bubba was like, ‘Good, good, good.’ He was like, ‘Hey, you know what, boys? You guys are fitting in really good here.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, cool, alright.’ ‘Yeah, you boys are doing really good,’ and this and that.

“[JR said], ‘I like you boys. I like you boys a lot. D-Von, I’m not too sure, the verdict’s still out on him. And I’m not too sure how particularly feel about this.’ And I’m saying to myself, ‘What does he mean by that?’ And JR says, ‘Again, the verdict’s not out yet, but I’m still a little hesitant with D-Von.’

On Bubba’s Reaction:

“Bubba knew what he was getting at. So Bubba butts in and goes, ‘You know something, JR, regardless to what, D-Von’s a hard worker. He never gives this company any problems. We go in there and do our business and that’s it. You know, D-Von’s a good guy. He takes care of his family. He does everything he’s supposed to do as an individual.’

“And JR continued to go, ‘Well you know, I get that. That’s all good. But you know, it’s just something about him. I just — I’m not sure, you know,’ and this and that. And I’m not saying anything and I’m keeping quiet. And finally, that’s when it comes out. ‘You know, he — he’s black. You know, I just — I don’t know. And that’s — you know, that’s my hiccup. I don’t know how I could feel about that.’ And I started balling up my fist, and Bubba saw that. So Bubba grabbed me and he goes, ‘Yeah, but you know what, JR? Black, white, purple, brown, it doesn’t matter. He’s a great individual. He’s a good human being.’ ‘Oh, no, no, no. I’m not saying that he’s not. But I just don’t know. You know, because he’s black and I just don’t know about that.’

On His Reaction:

“And at that point, I was just like — man, I had to think about it. ‘If I hit him, we’re going to lose our job. If I say something, I can lose my job.’ Because at that time, I didn’t think that I would be able to fight that. Because again, I’m a little fish in a big pond.

“[To] remind you though, when he said it he was very drunk. He was very — he was extremely drunk, slurring his words and all that. They say when you’re drunk the truth comes out.”

On the Other Incident:

“The other incident, like I said, was in Indianapolis where myself, Dreamer, Bubba, Heyman, and Spike were sitting at the table. And we had gotten there a little early. We had to be there by 1:00, so it had to be about 1:30, maybe 2:00. And I think JR just got came into catering, he just got out of the meeting. And he comes over, he says hello to everybody but me. And Paul Heyman — you know Paul and how Paul is. Paul is just — because me and Paul had a great relationship. Paul Heyman basically discovered me, gave me my job in ECW, and made me who I am today.”

On Heyman Calling JR Out:

“So Paul pretty much called him out. Says, ‘What? You don’t want to say nothing because he’s — what? Why you don’t want to say hello to D-Von? What’s wrong with D-Von? What? Because he’s black?’ And JR went, ‘You’re damn right. Because he’s black. You’re damn right.’

“Now, I don’t know if he got mad at Paul for calling him out and ignoring me and saying hello, which he didn’t have to. So that’s fine. But still, I don’t know if he got mad at that and that’s why he said what he said, because his ego got in the way or what have you. But that’s what was said.”

On People Accusing Him Of ‘Pulling the Race Card:

“People want to say, ‘It’s all about the race card.’ No one’s pulling the race card here. The question was asked, ‘Had I ever experienced racism in the WWE?’ When Bubba asked me, he said, ‘Had you had you experienced it while we were together?’

“And I told him, ‘Not in ECW.’ ECW, we were a family. ECW, it was well known that we were a family. ECW will always be that place that holds special in my heart, because none of that crap existed back then in ECW. Could it have? Sure, but it didn’t. That’s how we knew that everybody was a family. We all cared for each other, we all nurtured each other. We all did the right thing amongst each other. So that was never ever an issue there. So when it came up, I said, ‘Yeah, it was a top official in WWE.'”

On the Last Time He Saw Ross:

“I saw him WrestleMania. This past WrestleMania in Vegas. We didn’t even speak. I was walking with my lady, we were going to the autograph signing party… and I see him by the bar area where one of the machines was. He sees me, I see him. I turned away and kept walking. I think so [it was a mutual desire not to speak to each other].”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit D-Von Dudley with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.