Tony Khan Breaks His Silence On Max Caster’s AEW Dark Rap
AEW President Tony Khan has given his take on Max Caster’s hugely controversial rap that aired on AEW Dark and says he has taken over the editing of the show.
Caster teamed with Acclaimed partner Anthony Bowens as well as Matt Hardy and The Blade to face The Varsity Blonds and Matt and Mike Sydal on the 100th episode of AEW Dark. Before the match ‘Platinum’ Max made his usual entrance complete with rap where he took aim at his opposition.
However, this time Caster’s rap caught the ire of many watching who were vocal in their displeasure on social media after he commented on US Olympian Simone Biles, as well as the rape accusations made against members of the Duke University lacrosse team in 2006.
The entrance aired as usual on AEW Dark before the backlash began and the show was taken down before being reuploaded with the eight-man tag team match beginning with all eight men in the ring and no entrances shown.
Now as a guest on Busted Open Radio, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan has given his thoughts on the situation and says he will be overseeing the editing of the company’s two YouTube shows from now on:
“Last night on Dark, Max Caster’s rap was terrible. I was not out there in the moment when he did it, it was not during Dynamite, I was out back when Max had said this rap. I had not heard it until last night, truthfully. In the editing process, it should have been caught. We deleted the episode and re-posted it with that edited out but it shouldn’t have aired and I put such tight controls on Dynamite and this would never have happened there because Max’s raps I have always gone over them with him and frankly, every segment on Dynamite I don’t write or script wrestler’s promos but the bullet points I give.”
“So in this case, it shouldn’t have happened and what will happen going forward is I will be taking over the editing of Dark and Elevation myself. I was already editing Dynamite and Rampage and I do a lot and now I will also be editing Dark and Elevation. So it’s unfortunate that it came to that.”
The controversy comes after AEW found themselves in hot water with Domino’s pizza following the main event at Fight For The Fallen less than a week earlier. During the Death Match between Nick Gage and Chris Jericho, Gage used a pizza cutter to attack his rival. Just after this spot in the match, the show cut to a commercial break which included an ad for Domino’s Pizza.
The pizza chain later released a statement saying that they were “assessing their advertising presence” on the show.