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All Elite Wrestling’s Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes is apologizing for participating in a homophobic chant during AAA’s Triplemania event in Mexico City last month.
Rhodes joined AAA star Psycho Clown and former UFC Champion Cain Velasquez in chanting “puto” following their match at the event. The chant has plagued Mexico soccer games over the last decade. Fans often chant it towards the opposing team. The term itself has several meanings, one of which is homophobic. The word translates to “male prostitute”, and has been a derogatory term used against gay men and, therefore, is a gay slur.
An AEW spokesperson released the following statement to Outsports.
“Cody joined his teammates at AAA TripleMania for what he understood to be their post-match tradition in Mexico and was unaware of any negative connotations. Certainly the last thing Cody would want to do is to hurt or offend anyone, anywhere.”
All Elite Wrestling included a clip of Cody, Psycho Clown, and Cain Velasquez chanting the slur during episode 4 of Road To All Out on the company’s Youtube channel.
Numerous organizations have cracked down on the use of the word. Two games were suspended last month in France and Brazil per new FIFA guidelines for using the chant.
Fifa guidelines state, “Referees would first stop the match and request a public announcement to insist that the discriminatory behavior cease. If this has no effect, he or she can then suspend play again and, if the racist, behavior persists, abandon the match.”
Representatives from AAA did not respond to a request from Outsports for comment.