Tony Khan Reacts To Controversial Max Caster Rap On AEW Dark
On Busted Open Radio this morning, AEW President Tony Khan was questioned about a controversial segment on AEW's 100th episode of Dark involving talent Max Caster. Khan noted that he wasn't happy by what he saw.
While discussing the incident with hosts Dave LaGreca and Tommy Dreamer, Khan described Caster's rap as 'awful', while also revealing he missed the segment due to not being in the Gorilla position at the time. Khan further added that the editors should've have taken the rap out and, going forward, he will now be taking over the editing duties himself for Dark.
"Last night on Dark, Max Caster's rap was terrible," Khan said. "I was not out there in the moment when he did it. It was not during Dynamite, I was out back when Max had said this rap. I had not heard it until last night, truthfully. In the editing process it should've been caught. We deleted the episode and reposted it with that edited out, but it shouldn't have aired.
"I put such tight controls on Dynamite, and this would never have happened there because Max's raps I've always gone over with him there. And frankly, every segment on Dynamite, I don't write or script any promos, but the bullet points I give. So in this case it shouldn't have happened, and what will happen going forward is I'll be taking over the editing of Dark and Elevation myself. I was already editing Dynamite and Rampage and I do a lot, and now I'll also be editing Dark and Elevation. It's unfortunate that it came to that."
The segment in question occurred prior to an eight man tag featuring Caster, tag team partner Anthony Bowens, Matt Hardy and The Blade taking on Matt and Mike Sydal, Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison. In the rap Caster made statements about Olympian Simone Biles, referenced the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal, made comments about the PCR tests for COVID-19 and finished it off with crude comments about Pillman and Garrison's manager Julia Hart. The latter comment continued the trend of Bowens and Caster insulting Hart as the Acclaimed (Bowens and Caster) build to a tag match with the Varsity Blondes (Garrison and Pillman).
Upon completion of the show, AEW briefly took Dark off of YouTube before putting the show back up with Caster's rap edited out. AEW had previously done this several months ago for a match involving Luchasaurus and Cezar Bononi that featured a notable botch. The show was later removed, edited and put up again on YouTube with the spot in question removed.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription