Titus O'Neil On Almost Not Getting TED Talk Appearance Due To Pro Wrestling Stereotypes, Advocacy

Titus O'Neil spoke with USA Today's "For the Win" section ahead of his upcoming TED Talk at the TEDxUCLA conference on May 20. He will be first ever WWE talent to be appearing for one of these conferences. Here are some of the highlights:

The "Domino effect of advocacy":

"It's based on whether someone wants to be the positive domino in someone else's life. It's going to be taking my real life story and placing some of the advocates within my life and how it changed my way of thinking, my mode of operation as well as my ability to see things from a different perspective...I want to illustrate how my life has gone, why it's gone in the direction it's gone, where it started, how it arrived at this point and how that process can be echoed by people from all around the world and all walks of life regardless of race or gender or nationality or sexual orientation or religion."

Pro wrestling stereotypes almost kept him from getting a TED Talk appearance:

"Reaction to me possibly doing this was not as well received because of the field that I'm in. It comes with certain stereotypes being in WWE. Over a period of time and them monitoring the product of WWE, but also what I do individually both inside and outside of WWE, they felt like maybe we can give this a try."

Titus O'Neil also discussed more about his past and giving back to others. You can read the full interview by clicking here.

Source: USA Today