Cody Rhodes feels honored to be welcomed by the Black community in wrestling.
Fans have been posting photoshopped memes of the American Nightmare for years now. After his feud with Anthony Ogogo in AEW in 2021, fans backhandedly “credited” Cody Rhodes as “ending racism” and made several jokes at his expense. Some began putting him in photos with famous civil rights activists like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
Speaking with the Cheap Heat podcast, Cody Rhodes was asked by co-host Greg Hyde, Esq. (@StatGuyGreg) about his (and his father’s) deep connection with the Black WWE fanbase. Hyde also referenced the aforementioned memes, which have taken on a new context over time.
“Gosh, as you were talking… for such a silly thing, it actually chokes me up a little bit. Because I never touched those because don’t want to offend anybody,” Cody explained. “But man, when I see them… that’s a fun feeling, I guess, to be welcomed in. That’s a really fun feeling. And certainly, when I see people like, ‘Cody Rhodes is not black!’ When I see people go on that rant… you see all that stuff. Talent will always act like, ‘Oh, I don’t see that.’ We see it all.
“To me, it’s truly special to be welcomed in, and I’d like to do something, to honor that. I don’t know what that is. Again, it’s such a funny thing that it gets me emotional. My daughter is Black. Just to be able to be welcomed in makes me feel good,” Cody said, “because all I care about is her future. As silly and goofy as the pictures are, and how good they are, in a sense of, ‘Wait, that looks like he was really there — it’s an honor, is the best way to put it. It’s a real honor. I definitely see them when they’re out there, so I thank everyone that thinks that of me and thought that of my dad. It’s certainly special to be welcomed in.”
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