WWE Hall of Famers The Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray and D-Von, recently appeared in a new interview on Maven Huffman’s YouTube channel. During the conversation, Bubba asked D-Von if he had faced racism after the two formed The Dudley Boyz.
D-Von said that while things were positive in ECW, his experience changed after arriving in WWE. You can see the highlights below:
D-Von on being scared of racism at the time: “Being African-American in this in this business still — especially in the very beginning of 1991. And even though we got started in 96, I was still petrified of racism. Somebody not saying, ‘Okay, we can’t allow him to say this, because watching a black man say this in this type of business or vice versa?’ Because I found that to be very, very — a point of view in so many people when I was coming up in the business, that their philosophy was still stuck in the ’50s and ’60s. A black man should never say anything because of the fact that he’s black and you’re in a white man’s business.”
D-Von on not experiencing it during ECW: “No, I didn’t experience it when we were together. Because of the fact that when we got together, we were in ECW. And in ECW I did not experience it. I experienced it in WWE. I experienced it with certain top officials who — I don’t really want to go and say any names… But my point was, when a person comes up to you and tells you that they don’t like you because of the color of your skin. And you’re sitting up there going, ‘Wow, really?’ When [it’s] 1999, 2000 and you’re still coming to me and saying crap like this. There were certain people in that organization and that time that felt that I should not have said anything, who had power to basically bury me if need be just because I might have stood up for what I felt was right.”
Bubba on whether he ever felt like he had to protect D-Von from racism:“Yes, once. Only once. And that’s why I asked them like, ‘Have you ever experienced since we since we were together?’ And now that he brings up this incident that I know he’s talking about, yes, I did experience [it] firsthand. And I think if I wasn’t there to actually physically grab him by his wrist and hold him back, that something could have happened. So yes, I did experience it with him once.” h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
