Brodus Clay Revealed How The WWE Locker Room Dealt With Darren Young Coming Out

Last August, pro wrestler Darren Young made headlines when he nonchalantly came out, becoming WWE’s first openly gay superstar. He’s spent much of the last year on the shelf with a torn ACL, so we haven’t seen much from him since. The questions remain, however: in a sports world where gay athletes like Michael Sam have their personal lives described as a “distraction,” how did the WWE locker room respond to Young’s announcement? You know, besides the TMZ-friendly soundbites.

Former fellow WWE Superstar Brodus Clay recently gave an interview with Kayfabe Commentaries and was asked about the locker room’s reaction, and it was exactly what it should’ve been.

Well he got there. Darren is a Superstar and he’s a great worker. His work got him there. To be honest with you, our locker room, we have openly gay guys we work with and it was never a big deal. A lot of of times I was concerned, I’ll leave it up to him if he wants to disclose this himself or whatever, but I was worried about his dating habits. I wanted him to be careful because he does the dating sites and stuff like that. We were talking to him, like how is your dating life and things like that? So it wasn’t really a big thing when he came out.

I think for him probably he just made himself more comfortable. In terms of the locker room, it wasn’t a big deal. One of the greatest teachers and stars in our business, Mr. Pat Patterson. We weren’t like, “oh my what?” We’re past that. Our locker room is very accepting of that. Honestly, we’re probably more angry if someone’s not reading comic books than whether they’re gay or straight.

Two things we can gather from gather from those comments:

1. The WWE locker room might actually be as progressive and tolerant as those TMZ soundbites made it out to be, and that’s awesome.
2. I really want to know what comic books everybody’s reading, and who has heat because they don’t. I bet Cesaro doesn’t read comics. That explains so much.

Here’s to hoping Darren Young gets back in the ring soon and continues to make a name for himself, even if it involves him hopping around with guys dressed like vikings and hamburgers.

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