Darren Young comes out as gay

[punk13]

As Reported on TMZ:
WWE superstar Darren Young just dropped a bombshell, telling TMZ, he's gay ... and no, this isn't part of the act.

Darren was at LAX Wednesday when we asked whether a gay wrestler could succeed in WWE, and Darren laughed, saying, "Absolutely. Look at me. I'm a WWE superstar and to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay. And I'm happy. I'm very happy."

For the record, Darren is now the first openly gay wrestler ever at WWE ... and the first headlining wrestler ever to come out while still signed to a major promotion.

Other pro wrestlers have been rumored to be gay, but that's it ... just rumors.

Props to him for coming out.

 

[PHX]

TMZ interviewing Darren Young of all people is a surprise and interesting for this to come out in a random interview like that but good for him. Interesting predicament he just put himself in though. By that I mean in this day and age now that this is public say if WWE released him imagine the media shit storm WWE would get.

 

[Troy]

Is it bad that my first thought was that he won't be getting released anytime soon?

Good on him for having the guts to come out and be open about it. Really random how it happened though.

 

[Cwalker]

Gotta give Darren Young a hell of a lot of credit for coming out. Very random but it was going to happen eventually so why not be the first and hopefully make it easier for others to do the same. And like PHX said, if the WWE had any ideas of releasing him(which I don't think they did) they're reconsidering it now because the PR backlash would be terrible

 

[PHX]

[MENTION=2]Troy[/MENTION] Nope cause it is what it is. WWE could have a perfectly logical reason to release him but it will be perceived as WWE doing it just cause he came out and WWE doesn't want those problems for damn sure. My only hope is that they don't try and acknowledge it on T.V cause last thing I wanna see is another Chuck and Billy character. Man doesn't have to be a gay character just because he is gay.

 

[TheOneKnownAsFetter]

Great news to hear. With athletes openly expressing & coming out in other sports I thought it only a matter of time when it came to pro wrestling & sport's entertainment. It's odd it happens now after the numerous of "Gay" angles the E has tried to use these past few years. Good for him though. Gotta imagine it's a hard decision in a male dominate sport as any.

 

[Troy]

@Troy Nope cause it is what it is. WWE could have a perfectly logical reason to release him but it will be perceived as WWE doing it just cause he came out and WWE doesn't want those problems for damn sure. My only hope is that they don't try and acknowledge it on T.V cause last thing I wanna see is another Chuck and Billy character. Man doesn't have to be a gay character just because he is gay.

He probably wasn't going to be in the firing line anytime soon anyway but it is a nice insurance policy for him. He won't be going anywhere soon. I don't mind them acknowledging it but there is no need to change his character. Not every gay man is effeminate, he is a regular guy that happens to like other guys.

Great news to hear. With athletes openly expressing & coming out in other sports I thought it only a matter of time when it came to pro wrestling & sport's entertainment. It's odd it happens now after the numerous of "Gay" angles the E has tried to use these past few years. Good for him though. Gotta imagine it's a hard decision in a male dominate sport as any.

Hopefully in a decades time it won't be that big a deal in that it will be common place and people simply won't care if they are straight or gay. I also wonder if everyone at WWE already knew about it because he told them but they were keeping quiet until he went public with it.

 

[TheOneKnownAsFetter]

[MENTION=2]Troy[/MENTION] I'm sure they knew. It was probably something that was discussed upon hire or shortly after. Just to clear the air and make sure there wasn't any awkwardness.

 

[Troy]

@Troy I'm sure they knew. It was probably something that was discussed upon hire or shortly after. Just to clear the air and make sure there wasn't any awkwardness.

They wouldn't have been able to ask when the hired him, pretty sure it is illegal to ask that. It probably would have come up more naturally, he is on the road four or five days a week so it would most likely have come up in conversation since I am sure the wrestlers all talk about their personal lives with each other.

 

[Crippler]

good for him but it's 2013 and gay marriage is legal so it's not that groundbreaking.

 

[Gimmick]

Good for him. I'm sure it's pretty hard to come out when you're in an environment like WWE, where they've shown to be quite homophobic in the past.

They're a different company to what they used to be though, so I don't expect them to make a stupid storyline out of it or anything. And who knows, they might even use him for some Be A Star stuff as well. It can be PR heaven for them if they handle it correctly.

 

[Crippler]

As long as they don't do the TNA Orlando Jordan gimmick

 

[TheTimidPimp]

Cringe at how patronising the interviewer was. Props to Darren Young for seeming to genuinely not give 2 shits. 'Coming out' really needs to stop being a thing. And peoples sexual preferences really needs to stop being news.

 

[Dale]

@Troy Nope cause it is what it is. WWE could have a perfectly logical reason to release him but it will be perceived as WWE doing it just cause he came out and WWE doesn't want those problems for damn sure. My only hope is that they don't try and acknowledge it on T.V cause last thing I wanna see is another Chuck and Billy character. Man doesn't have to be a gay character just because he is gay.

What you talkin' bout, at least PTP would actually be entertaining then :young:

On TMZ this morning, WWE Superstar Darren Young revealed to the WWE Universe that he is gay. WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar. Today, in fact, Darren will be participating in one of our Be A STAR anti-bullying rallies in Los Angeles to teach children how to create positive environments for everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation.

I'm more interested in seeing how this may affect his career whether it be positively or negatively and whether he appears even less frequently on TV now or if they even maybe give PTP a tad more airtime.

I think in the endup though we'll never really know how they view someone who is gay until a pretty popular or more prominent superstar comes out.

 

[The Cork]

Still waiting for Cody Rhodes to come out the closet.