Last week on SmackDown, during The New Day's in-ring promo opposite The Usos, Big E referenced an incident that Booker T would probably say was not his proudest moment:
That happened at WCW Spring Stampede 1997, and 20 years later, that mistake still a sore subject for the WWE Hall of Famer.
So when Big E impersonated that delivery and cribbed those lines before being cut off by Xavier Woods, all in the service of making a joke (and addressing the LaMelo Ball controversy from the night before) one guy who didn't find it funny was Booker T.
On the most recent edition of Booker T's podcast, Heated Conversations, the former Five-Time (Five-Time, Five-Time, Five-Time, Five-Time) WCW Champion made it known that he wasn't too happy about having that unhappy memory dredged up by the company he works for.
“I just want to make it publicly known that I don’t condone that at all especially coming off of Monday Night. We as a people, we gotta know when it’s time to speak up and when it’s time to shut up. My mother taught me that a long time ago. If you don’t know, it’ll come back and haunt you. (That mistake) has haunted me for this many years. You put yourself in a situation for something to happen, just like Mike Tyson did, something can happen. For these young kids to understand and realize and be able to speak up for themselves…you know…then again, I spoke up because I was talent. I spoke up because I knew that I could speak up. I implore these young people out there to know exactly what they’re doing and how they are affecting our young people that are coming up. That’s the most important thing as far as I’m concerned. Me personally, I know I’ve made mistakes. That word that I said on national television in front of the world – I wish I could go back and erase it. I wish that I could take it back. I wish that WWE would never do something like that ever again.”
Booker said that the company didn't tell him they were going to use that embarrassing moment to try and get a laugh out of the audience and set up a Rap Battle for the following week's episode.
"Me personally, I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know if (WWE) knew that the parody was gonna go down because I know those guys do a lot of their own stuff. I don’t think that we as a company need to go that route. I think that parody should not have ever been shown on television because it wasn’t a great moment for us as black people. For us as black people, it was one of our worst moments. Just like the (LaMelo) Ball thing. The kid is 15-years old; I don’t blame him or anything like that. It was something that slipped out just like myself (20 years ago), it was something that slipped out. For me as a person that’s trying to set an example for us as black people and for me to let so many people down – even the ones that thought it was an anthem… …I want them to know that it was my worst day that I could have ever had being a black man and letting so many of our people down by calling us that word or saying that word in any realm, any form was definitely not right by any means. I wish I could take it right back. That one blemish is the only thing they have over my head that they could put out there to try to make me look bad in any way shape, form, or fashion. Of course, I could put a spin on it… … but does that make it right? No, it doesn’t make it right. It’s still a stain, a blemish, a mark that no surgical procedure could ever repair. So I just want young people to know exactly what they’re saying and when they’re saying it.”
You can listen to the full podcast at this link.
