Titus O’Neil was recently a guest on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness. During this podcast, he opened up about his recent conversation with Lars Sullivan.
Lars has made headlines over the past few weeks. This comes after some controversial comments were brought to light from an online bodybuilding forum. WWE ended fining Lars $100,000 for the situation.
Here are some quotes from Titus about the situation and his recent conversation with Lars (h/t to Wrestling INC for the quotes below):
“Lars sought me out, and he sought other people out. And I sat with Lars for about thirty-five minutes in Talent Relations just me and him. I saw a man that clearly, number one, made mistakes in his choice of words and his mindset and how he expressed himself years before he became a co-worker of mine.”
“People automatically called for him to be fired, called for him to be ostracized. My thing is number one, people change. And if that’s who he really is, then yeah, he has no place in any profession whether it’s professional wrestling or wherever. He doesn’t deserve to live a life of luxury or live a life of grace if he chooses to be that person. But I looked a man who was humble. Very apologetic. Very misguided as well. We dwelled and talked about some things. Not to say, there’s ever an excuse but until you know someone’s story and until you know somebody personally, you can’t take it personal and you can’t come up with your own conclusions because there is a conclusion and there is a reason why people get to a certain point and do certain things.”
“I believe in my heart that this situation with Lars will be a teachable moment for everybody from all walks of life. And I’m willing to put my name on this situation just going with my gut and my heart simply because of how he came to me as a man. And how he came to other people as a man and said ‘Look man, I don’t have any answers. I don’t have any excuses. I just want to be a better human being.’ As a man, to sit down with another man in that circumstance, you have my upmost respect. He could have easily evaded me. He could easily let the company deal with it however they were going to deal with it and not said a word. And he chose to go a different route.”
“So, I am hoping that my gut is right, I’m going to do my best to not let him get past it but actually learn from it. Learn why what he said was offensive to people of color and people of certain sexual orientation. But I also want him to utilize this opportunity to grow other people around him. Maybe people he grew up with. Maybe his dad. Mom and dad, brothers, whatever. Everybody can learn from this based on how he responds to it. I feel it’s going to be a very positive outcome. When it comes to people making mistakes, people making bad judgement calls, not one person is perfect including myself”.
“When it comes to people, everyone deserves an opportunity. If that’s not who he is now, then let him have the opportunity and take the opportunity to show that. Most of the people making comments are nowhere near as brave to say what they say or interpret what they interrupt away from those keyboards.”
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
In other news, check out a potential spoiler for Money in the Bank here.