WWE has issued an apology for a video Tensai posted late Monday night on the video sharing network Tout that could be perceived as racially insensitive toward Asian people.
“While in character, Lord Tensai (Matt Bloom) clearly took his storyline too far and he will be reprimanded for his inappropriate comments,” WWE’s statement reads, which was issued to multiple wrestling news outlets including eWrestlingNews.com by company spokesman Kevin Hennessy.
The video, which has since been deleted, showed him traveling with his “personal chauffeur” Sakamoto to Indianapolis—the site of tonight’s SmackDown taping—following RAW, and he remarked that it’s “very, very dangerous” to drive with a Japanese person. He then smacked Sakamoto on the head as he drove and ordered him “to open his eyes.”
Another racially charged remark toward Sakamoto was made on Raw as commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler quipped following the Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd match, “When Tensai beats up Sakamoto, he changes his name to Sum Ting Wong.”
