Kenny Omega On How WWE Portrays Gay Characters

In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Kenny Omega spoke about how the LGBT community has embraced his Golden Lovers team with Kota Ibushi, as well as how WWE portrays gay characters. Here are highlights:

On the support of the LGBT community: “Let people think what they want to think. If LGBT people can identify with our story, if they think ‘The Golden Lovers are my team,’ I’m good with that. It’s the story of two wrestlers who shared dreams on their way up, who became fast friends, who are now reuniting at the top of their game.”

On how WWE portrays gay characters: “I think it’s important to show in the 21st century that if you’re gay, lesbian, trans, whatever, that you should feel just as welcome to be a wrestling fan as anyone else. You’re welcome in the space. I do get some stupid messages on Twitter from homophobic people and they’re usually WWE fans, which kind of drives things home. In WWE, a gay person is usually portrayed like some sort of comedy act to be mocked and laughed at. The world’s not like that anymore. Everyone should feel welcome to the show.”

On seizing big opportunities: “It’s about taking advantage of the moment when you’re presented with the opportunity. I have a vision for what I want wrestling to be, and I was fortunate not just to have the opportunity to show my talents at the right time, and not just to have the right opponents, and not just to have the knowledge that the front office has faith in me, but also the good fortune not to get hurt in the middle of all this. I’ve been blessed to have this chance to make wrestling a little more what I want it to be.”