Wrestling legend Rick Steiner recently came under fire after he made transphobic comments towards a transgender wrestler. After his father's comments, his son, a former champion in WWE, attempted to clear the air on where he stands.
Bron Breakker, a 25-year-old second-generation star in WWE's developmental brand, NXT, went on the Under the Ring podcast to discuss various topics. His father Rick's comments towards wrestler Gisele Shaw, a wrestler who identifies as transgender. Shaw wrestles for Impact Wrestling. In April, Bron's father was accused of making terrible, transphobic comments towards Shaw. Shaw had released a lengthy statement detailing the alleged confrontation and what was said.
In the statement, Shaw alleged Steiner to have yelled, "You're a man," "you're a dude," "you're a piece of trash," "you are filth," and "get the -- away from me."
Shaw's full statement can be found here.
Breakker attempted to clear the air on the podcast on where his stance is and whether it differentiates from his father.
"Yeah, you know, I appreciate the question. I can't speak for my father, but that's not a reflection of me, and who I am, and what I'm about," Breakker said on the show via POST Wrestling.
Breakker achieves positives with this response. First, he didn't answer it in a negative way and did not dismiss his father's actions or his father's transphobic comments at all. Secondly, his measuredness in saying he appreciates the question. And then, finally, the verbal dismissal. Breakker relayed that he and his father are different people. He's given no reason for people to dismiss that statement, either.
In this day and age, everyone is more revealing. In a lot of ways, it's become a massive negative. Many feel compelled to share hateful opinions at any moment of the day. So, in this case, Breakker doesn't achieve that now, and he looks better for it by making it clear that he and his father are not the same.
[POST Wrestling]
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