WWE has issued a statement regarding the Jordan Myles (real name Albert Hardie, Jr.) shirt controversy.
The company states that Hardie approved the t-shirt for sale and was involved in giving input and approval for the merchandise to be sold. Once Hardie changed his mind and brought it to the attention of the company, they responded swiftly. The company also claims that no t-shirts were sold.
Hardie criticized WWE in a series of tweets put out on Sunday where he labeled Vince McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque as slapping all African American performers in the face. Hardie also stated that WWE is ignorant and in need of reprogramming.
It was insinuated that the initial t-shirt provoked the image of blackface, a controversial form of theater makeup where a white performer paints their face to represent a black person, often in a derogatory manner.
You can read the full statement below:
“Albert Hardie Jr. (aka Jordan Myles) approved this t-shirt for sale. As always, we work collaboratively with all of our performers to develop logos and merchandise designs and get their input and approval before proceeding. This was the same process with Albert, and we responded swiftly once he later requested that the logo/t-shirt be redesigned. No t-shirts were sold.”
