MJF Opens Up About Antisemitism He Has Experienced In Pro Wrestling

On AEW programming, MJF is one of professional wrestling's most hated villains but there's another side of Maxwell Jacob Friendman that viewers are seeing more often.

MJF's publicly embracing his Jewish faith and taking on the added responsibility of defending other Jews.

"It's not the cool thing to talk about, cause we're not the cool minority," MJF told David Meyers of the Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner. "I'm going to keep bringing it up because I think it's bulls***."

MJF told The Algemeiner he does not feel violent attacks on Jews in America get enough publicity and shared some of his own personal experiences.

"When I was 19 and 20, and I was getting booked in the biggest promotions that you could on the independent circuit, there were much older guys who were livid," MJF recalled.

MJF says he was subjected to antisemitic slurs and talked down to because he is Jewish. He has also been left wondering what has motivated certain individuals to lash out at him.

"Did [the wrestler who keyed my car] think I was white, or did he think I was a Jew?" MJF asked. "I am a minority. Because millions of my people were viciously murdered simply because of our religious beliefs."

MJF shared some of his past experiences with antisemitism with the world during a promo on an episode of AEW Dynamite back in February. He detailed some of the bullying he endured as a child and how pro-wrestling inspired and motivated him to fight past it. Fellow wrestlers and MJF's own mother celebrated his heartfelt address.

"I get to showcase to people that there's more than one archetype of being a Jew," MJF said. "I think I'm the best wrestler in the world, and I just so happen to be Jewish — and I just so happen to be very proud of it," he said.