Over the last year, WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley spoke out about facing alleged racism from a WWE higher-up during his time there and while initially not mentioning any names, Dudley finally revealed that person as being former WWE Talent Relations head honcho, Jim Ross.
Ross responded to the claims by outright denying the allegations and suggesting that he never had any sort of conflict with Dudley while the two were in WWE. Ross also stated he was confused why D-Von was "conjuring" up the incidents, calling the allegations absurd and stating that he always liked Dudley, even to this day. Ross also speculated that perhaps D-Von isn't happy with his post-wrestling career as he hasn't enjoyed the same sort of success as his partner, Bubba.
Earlier today, D-Von released a new YouTube video firing back at Ross' denials with specific details:
"It was at the WWE restaurant, the grand opening of it. We were mingling with some of the guests that were there. A lot of them were artists, musical artists, things like that. There were some actors and actresses that were there. WWE really rolled out the red carpet for this event."
"He said, ‘You boys are doing really good, and this and that. I like you boys, I like you boys a lot. D-Von, I’m not too sure. The verdict’s still out on him. I’m not too sure how I particularly feel about this.’"
"And Bubba knew what he was getting at. So Bubba butts in and goes, ‘You know something, JR, regardless of what, D-Von’s a hard worker. He never gives this company any problems."
"And JR continued, ‘Well, you know, I get that. That’s all good, but there’s just something about him. I’m not sure.'"
"And finally, that’s when it comes out. ‘He’s Black. I just don’t know. That’s my hiccup.'"
When Bubba responded that D-Von is a "good human", Ross responded with: "I’m not saying that he’s not, but I just don’t know. You know, because he’s Black and I just don’t know about that.’"
D-Von added that he thought about punching Ross for the comments but realized that if he did that, the he and Bubba would lose their jobs and even if he simply spoke up, they could still lose their jobs. He compared himself to a little fish in a big pond.
Dudley also conceded that Ross was "extremely drunk" during the incident to the point where he was slurring his words, but felt that when people are drunk, "the truth comes out."
D-Von then described a second incident where he experienced racism from Ross:
"And then the other incident was in Indianapolis, where myself, Dreamer, Bubba, Heyman, and Spike were sitting at the table. And I think JR had just come in catering. He had just gotten out of a meeting, and he comes over. He says hello to everybody but me."
"Paul pretty much called him out, says, ‘What? You don’t want to say nothing because what? Why don’t you want to say hello to D-Von? What’s wrong with D-Von? What, ’cause he’s Black?’"
"And JR went, ‘You’re damn right cause he’s Black, you’re damn right."
"I don’t know if he got mad at that and that’s why he said what he said, because his ego got in the way or what have you. But that’s what was said."
