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WWE Hall of Famer Stevie Ray recently shared his thoughts on the controversy surrounding Max Caster and his problematic rap on last week's episode of AEW: Dark.
Max Caster found himself in hot water after taking a dig at gymnast Simone Biles, who withdrew from Tokyo Olympics 2020, citing mental health issues. Max Caster also touched upon the Duke Lacrosse allegations from over a decade ago, with many terming his rap as insensitive.
Speaking on Sportskeeda UnSKripted hosted by Chris Featherstone, Stevie Ray minced no words while addressing how black people in America are continually "castigated" despite their achievements.
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Ray added that though Max Caster's rap is being termed controversial, people of color face such things regularly in real life.
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"I didn't know anything about it. But I'm like this man, for sure, what else is new in America? What else is new in America when people go out of their way to castigate black people, as to people in this country who are actually doing the most inverted things known to man to try to get a rise out of someone. What else is new? So yes, what you look at is a controversy, but in the real world, it's very normal," said Stevie Ray.
Stevie Ray slammed Max Caster and AEW for resorting to "cheap heat"
Stevie Ray further spoke about how he never resorted to getting "cheap heat" from fans during his Hall Of Fame career. The WCW legend also believes that Max Caster's career could get finished after the controversy.
Ray questioned how AEW approved a rap of this nature since the company is supposedly owned by a person of color. He further explained that things need to be scrutinized before they go live on national television.
In conclusion, Stevie Ray stated that though what Max Caster did was "stupid," there's a possibility that it was a calculated move on the AEW star's part.
"First of all, I played a heel for a long, long time. Even after WCW, for years, I was going back and forth overseas, I played a heel for a long, long time. I never had to resort to cheap heat. I'm a bad dude. I don't need cheap heat like a Colby Covington (UFC star). This guy, Max Caster, or whatever his name is, if you resort to that, you ain't got a career in front of you, anyway. And for a company to resort to that, especially a company that is owned by a person of color, supposedly. So maybe some people that are in this country are people of color, that would be deemed as people of color, but in your own mind, you are not," said Stevie Ray.
"How did you even let it get by? We are talking about big-time TV here. How did you let that get by? You just told me before I came to this show, what I could say and what I couldn't say. How hard is that? Why would we make something that's so juvenile become so I'm important all of a sudden. This ain't some house show, this is big-time TV. And you already know, what's going on in this world. For your mind to even want to go there, you already know what's up. I'm never going to say someone stupid, just because they did something stupid, but was that stupidity calculated?" Ray concluded.
As per the latest reports, AEW seems to have understood the gravity of the situation. Aside from pulling Max Caster from this week's episode of AEW: Dark, the promotion has sent the star to sensitivity training for two months, akin to what Sammy Guevara underwent last year.
Do you agree with Stevie Ray's opinion on the Max Caster controversy? Do you think AEW did the right thing by taking action against Caster? Sound off in the comments section.
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