Anthony Bowens Comments On Homophobic Slur Uttered By Fan At AEW Dynamite
Last nigh on AEW Dynamite, a fan could be heard yelling a homophobic slur towards AEW star Anthony Bowens, as he competed in an eight man tag team match alongside Acclaimed teammate Max Caster and 2Point0 (Jeff Parker and Matt Lee) to take on The Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison) and The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus). Bowens, who is openly gay, responded to the incident on Twitter early Thursday morning.
"This is why I posted that photo the other day," Bowens tweeted. "Stuff like this unfortunately still exists. Not phased, I'll just keep fighting against stuff like this til the day I die."
Anthony Bowens was one of several talents that had slurs leveled against them on AEW Dynamite last night. A fan in attendance last night noted to Bowens that Nyla Rose was also subjected to transphobic comments from fans during AEW Rampage, while a Twitter user stated Riho was subjected to racial slurs during her match with Jamie Hayter.
The photo Anthony Bowens is referring to is from late Sunday afternoon, when Bowens tweeted a picture of him and boyfriend Michael Pavano kissing in front of several anti-gay protesters. Bowens and Pavano, who have been in a relationship for several years, co-host the Michael & Anthony Show on YouTube, which as of today has over 200K subscribers. Their latest episode was released on December 6, one day after Bowens posted the photo on Twitter.
The soon to be 31 year old Bowens has begun to standout recently on AEW programming. Along with Caster, The Acclaimed have been a constant fixture in the top five of AEW's Tag Team rankings. Anthony Bowens has also been active in the singles division, wrestling both Bryan Danielson and Jungle Boy on the November 5 and November 10 episodes of AEW Rampage and Dynamite respectively. The Acclaimed also appeared at AEW's Dark tapings in Universal Studios this past weekend, taking on Bear Country in match that will air on a later date.
You can see Anthony Bowens' tweet below.
This is why I posted that photo the other day. Stuff like this unfortunately still exists. Not phased, I'll just keep fighting against stuff like this til the day I die. 🌈 https://t.co/OI29dCeNU2
— Anthony Bowens (@Bowens_Official) December 9, 2021