Anthony Bowens never wants to meet negativity with negativity.
AEW star and one-half of The Acclaimed, Anthony Bowens recently sat down with TMZ Sports to discuss a ‘fan’ tossing a homophobic slur towards him during his eight-man tag match on the 12/8 edition of AEW Dynamite.
“Unfortunately that kind of stuff just comes with the territory of being an LGBTQ athlete. This is the first time I’ve audibly heard something like that during a performance or during television. It’s not indicative of the AEW fans at all because any interactions that I’ve had with them since starting the company have all, all been positive. So, that’s the first-time that that’s actually happened in that sense and I have really, really thick skin and I’m kind of used to it. Like, my boyfriend Michael and I have a YouTube channel, ‘Michael and Anthony’ and when we first started that, the comments were brutal, I can’t even repeat them. So, we’re kind of just used to that but there’s always kind of that one person who oversteps the line and this time it was picked up on camera and I’m kind of glad that it was because it just amplifies the message that we still have work to do but there’s also so much positive out there from the response, so that was really awesome to see.”
When asked about what he’d say to the person who used the slur, Bowens said he’d just like to educate them on why they’re wrong.
“I’m not the reactive type, I’m the type of person who likes to have a conversation and honestly, if I did meet him, I’d sit him down and I’d listen to him and hope he’d listen to me and hope we’d find some common ground or at least educate him to why that was wrong to do and help that person grow. I think instead of kind of beating down other people and throw back the negativity that they gave to you, use the opportunity to educate and help the person to become a better human-being.”
Bowens would then delve into the supportive and inclusive nature that exists in the AEW locker room.
“That’s one of the things that drew me to AEW outside of the product being insanely incredible, was the locker room. I came there as an extra talent as they call it and the other LGBTQ athletes there like Nyla Rose and Sonny Kiss, they were walking around freely, being authentically themselves and not a single person caring or judging but being supportive and the company also supports you as an individual and how you want to portray yourself as a character on the show which you don’t really get elsewhere. Sometimes you’re forced to do certain negative stereotypes, so AEW has been incredible in terms of the locker room and supporting me and other athletes like myself to go out and do what they love to do without any judgement.”
(If you use this transcription, credit TMZ Sports and h/t to WrestleZone with a link back to this post)
Related: Anthony Bowens Says His Heart Is With AEW, Says It’s The Place He Needs To Be
