Nyla Rose is defending Cody Rhodes against online criticism.
At the start of the month of June, Cody Rhodes released a Pride-themed t-shirt where all profits would go to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Happy #pride
— Cody (@CodyRhodes) June 1, 2021
Excited to release this charity tee! TODAY AT 1et.
The National Center For Transgender Equality helps individuals face discrimination, violence, opportunity limitation, and a myriad of other issues facing those affected. https://t.co/XsM9i8GrPF pic.twitter.com/8a6BmqejDZ
After this, Cody was the subject of some backlash questioning whether or not his intentions were genuine.
Because he’s the one person that said “I’d like to contribute and I’ll gladly put my platform up and accept $0 so someone else can profit.” At AEW anyone that wants to do a shirt for charity can. Maybe some people just don’t want to deal with stuff like this. KC didn’t this year. https://t.co/CHjXLtQhzX
— Brandi Rhodes (@TheBrandiRhodes) June 1, 2021
Now, Nyla Rose, the former Women's Champion herself is transgender, is defending Cody as a genuine ally of the LGBTQ community.
Speaking with Yahoo! Sports, Nyla Rose said that sometimes, people tend to be a little “too woke.”
“People tend to be a little too woke a lot of times and overlook a lot of things,” Rose said. “Cody’s an ally and he wants to go out there and do good. How can you hate on someone who wants to do good because it isn’t how you want it to be done? That’s absolutely silly. Cody actually asked me about the charity, so I did my research and due diligence and said absolutely and we agreed it was a great place for the proceeds to go to. To have someone like Cody, Dustin Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes back me and see me as a person first, it means the world to me.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nyla Rose talks about her own transition and learning about proper language and terminology, and educating her family and friends.
"Once I learned what transgender was, everything just kind of clicked,” Rose said. “It was a moment of ‘Oh my God, that’s me. That’s exactly how I feel. I don’t feel right being what everyone else wants me to be.’ I needed to be true to myself and what I felt inside. From that point on it was a moment of educating my family and my closest friends.
“I didn’t think actual transition was ever a possibility, so I relegated myself to being comfortable with being as fem as I could be. At the time, that meant cross-dressing. It wasn’t ever how I personally identified, I knew there was always something more, I just didn’t think it would be actually tangible. Much later in life is when it reached an actual breaking point and I went to see a therapist, underwent hormone therapy and I needed to actually transition.”
You can check out the full interview here.
As for Cody, today, Cody Rhodes is celebrating the expansion of his family as Brandi Rhodes has given birth to their first daughter, Liberty Iris. learn more here.
