WWE's Booker T Opens Up About Long Personal History Of Experience Racism In Wrestling

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T was one of the biggest names in WWE during the Ruthless Aggression era, and has six recognized world championship reigns within the promotion. Outside of this, he and his brother Stevie Ray were WCW's most decorated tag team. Unfortunately, by the veteran's own admission, he didn't move through the industry without being subject to racial discrimination.

"I'm [going to] tell you right from the jump: Yeah, my brother and I – we experienced racism," Booker claimed during an episode of his "Hall of Fame" podcast. "From the beginning of our careers we experienced racism." 

He then recalled being assigned a character named G.I. Bro in his early years. Booker was put in a match against someone and the promoter wanted him to be squashed in three minutes, and he felt something personal behind that decision. 

"It wasn't an angle or anything like that, and I refused to do it," Booker continued. "I refused to do it. And I ended up quitting the company. The guy ended up trying to blackball me from wrestling."

Booker further claimed how the incident grew legs and, ahead of a different match, Eddie Gilbert recounted what he'd heard from another source. "He was telling me about my attitude. ... I was like, 'Wow,'" he recalled. "I remember our debut in the Global Wrestling Federation. Now it was about 75 people, maybe 100 people. ... And literally, my brother and I – we walked out. The crowd started calling us the n-word."

However, when it came to the backstage environment at GWF, that was another story. "I don't remember one racial incident being a part of the Global Wrestling Federation, as far as the wrestlers go," he added.

Booker T did have a story about a racist incident between him and someone in WCW at the Powerplant training facility. 

"He said, 'No, if you was blessed, you'd have been blessed to be born white.' [That was] one of the first incidents I had," he recalled. Without naming the individual, Booker noted that the person who said it has since changed and become one of his friends. He also recalled how Harlem Heat were initially written to have racist undertones in their gimmick, but both he and Stevie Ray ignored it to get their feet in the door.

"In WCW, there was a guy – he was one of the security guards, and ... I don't know if he was former KKK. He might have been current KKK at that time," Booker added. "[A] member of the Klu Klux Klan. He was head of the security at WCW!" 

Despite this, Booker claims he once had a great chat with the head of security over some beers one day. "And I'm sitting here with the racist guy, and I swear man, we're having so much fun! And he's confessing to me about him being in the Klu Klux Klan and him being a racist his whole life, and how he really ... missed the 'boat of life.' ... We had a great time that night! I swear to God!" Booker added, further asserting that it was a true story.

"WCW, you know – it was the 'Good Ol' Boys.' Of course there was going to be some racism!" Booker admitted. "But, like I said, in life you're gonna have obstacles. You gotta figure a way over, 'round, under, sometimes you gotta go through."

Recently, D-Von Dudley appeared on Maven Huffman's podcast where he also recalled his experiences in the industry with racial discrimination. Dudley initially hinted that the man who was racist towards him was Jim Ross before eventually confirming it sometime later. However, according to Booker T, his own experiences with JR differed greatly.

"I came in 2001, and the person I had to deal with was JR," Booker said. "I don't know if he had changed by the time I had gotten there, but I never once had that interaction with JR, as far as him telling me something like that. JR was the one guy ... who convinced me to tell my story as far as what I went through because ... this is what he told me, and I quote: 'You can help so many people with your story.' That's what I remember about JR."

However, in WWE, Booker did experience an incident with a wrestler upset about Martin Luther King Day being celebrated. "I almost got into a fight with him. I literally wanted to fight with this dude, but I said, 'Let me think better of this situation right here, because no one heard this but him and I." However, Hurricane Helms backed him in a talent relations meeting, which led to the wrestler getting fired from WWE. "Racism is ... not just here in America. It's all across the board. It really is."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the "Hall of Fame" podcast, and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.