AEW’s Mark Henry has shared what led to his falling out with Jim Cornette following racially insensitive comments made by the industry personality.
In 2019, Cornette made a comment on NWA Powerrr that many felt made was racially insensitive and poked fun at serious issues about hunger in Africa.
While Cornette said it was a joke about starvation and not a racist comment, videos emerged showing Cornette repeatedly using racial slurs.
On a recent edition of the “Wrestling with Rip Rogers” podcast, Henry recalled Cornette refusing to apologize and how it affected him as a black man. He said,
“Jim Cornette, like you know, got pissed at me because there were videos that surfaced of him saying the n-word, and I guess I didn’t come to his aid enough for him.
“I respect the s*** out of him. But I wasn’t gonna dumb myself down and accept s*** or say something that wasn’t true. I never said that Jim was a racist; I never said that. So you know, I felt like I got unnecessary heat. Man, I’d love to be able to talk to Jim Cornette again, but like, I’ve done all the apologizing I’mma do.”
In the interview, Henry would credit his time working with Cornette in the WWF for keeping him in wrestling. The WWE Hall of Famer joined AEW in 2021.
