Patrick Clark, WWE's Former Velveteen Dream, Addresses Past Controversy

Patrick Clark, known as Velveteen Dream in WWE, was one of many wrestlers named in the Speaking Out movement of 2020, accused of having inappropriate contact with minors. Amidst the allegations were purported nude photographs and suggestive questions sent by Clark to younger aspiring wrestlers and fans. Despite being touted as one of the hottest prospects on its roster, Clark was released by WWE in 2021, reportedly due to the allegations. Of course, Clark disputes that. He would finally address the allegations in an interview with Chris Van Vliet. 

"I thought common sense would address most of it," Clark said of his prior silence on the matter, "But as a lot us know, common sense is not so common. The allegations levied against me — two very harsh ones — involved inappropriate communications with minors ... [A groomer] isn't all I was called, I've been called a pedophile, I've been called pedo, nonce, very hurtful and damaging titles to give a person. I didn't earn that, I don't have a history of malicious acts toward anyone, I never have ... Everyone's got a past, not everyone has a history ... I've never had a history. I've been around my co-workers' children in my personal life ... I've been in leadership positions around people drastically younger than me ... I've never in this life or my last life and I don't plan on the next life to ever have such maliciousness in my heart that I would want to do harm like that to anyone."

Clark claimed the conversations he was alleged to have engaged in were not "any conversations I've ever had with anybody, minor or adult, legal-illegal, consensual or non-consensual," further remarking they were all false. 

A fan, Jacob Schmidt, posted allegations on Twitter against Clark including purported nude images that were sent by the "WWE NXT" wrestler. Clark noted this account has since been suspended by the platform, and claimed the images were doctored. He went into detail about what he claims were his only interactions with Schmidt.

"I did speak to Jacob Schmidt on Instagram. We actually had a phone conversation over Instagram. At no point in time did I ever type anything or say anything that should have or could have been misconstrued as an advance of any type ... The one thing to very clear about: it's not a friendship, it's a mentorship ... I bring up schools because, in my voice message it was edited out, a voice bite was taken from it where I asked, 'What school do you go to?', again, I'm Velveteen Dream when I'm asking this question, it has a bit of an undertone to it because of the voice that I'm using. When I'm the Velveteen Dream I drag things out, I'm very handsy and just grandiose ... When I ask someone what school they go to it's to help them pursue their next journey in wrestling."

Clark said he wasn't "waiting outside in a van or an ice cream truck trying to harass children," swearing he doesn't have a history to suggest as much. But he said he does have a history of helping people, and theorized that his allegations may have stemmed from his characterization in the then-recent WWE 2K20 video game. "Your character meets the Velveteen Dream and the Velveteen Dream takes your character under his wing ... I don't find it to be a paradox that that's kind of the same narrative that has been followed in these false accusations."

An independent wrestler, Josh Fuller, also labeled Clark a "groomer and a child predator" accompanied by a thread of purported interactions between the two of them. Along with messages between the two, Fuller shared the nude images that were supposed to have been sent by Clark to Jacob Schmidt. However, Clark disputed that he was one of several WWE talents to have nude images leaked.

I’ve been debating releasing this information for months now, but with everyone #SpeakingOut, I finally feel comfortable in doing it. Part of me is still terrified for disclosing this.

Patrick Clark is a groomer and a child predator. I’ll post more proof below this tweet. pic.twitter.com/yhJKufwVpz

— josh fuller (@joshfullerpw) June 20, 2020

"I have a hard time trying to prosecute myself trying to explain where people have gotten images," Clark said, "A lot of people have nudes all over the internet. How they get there? Who knows? I'm not here to speculate. Speculation can't do anything but more damage. I'm not here to do that, the crimes I was accused of committing, those are federal crimes, those are litigious issues ... I've never been arrested, never been charged, never had to file a police report."

Clark would reel off several notable entertainers and politicians to have allegations levied against them, ranging from the likes of Sean Kingston — the Beautiful Girls singer accused of gang rape in 2010 — to convicted child sex offender and former singer R. Kelly, and even disgraced football coach Jerry Sandusky — a convicted child molester. He likened himself to them in the fact he was a male entertainer in the spotlight, and said there was no way he is accused of these crimes and he gets protected by his employer. Clark refers to the fact that WWE reportedly investigated the allegations against him, and found no evidence of his guilt.