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During last night’s (Nov. 12, 2016) EVOLVE 72 event, Joey Styles made a bad Donald Trump joke that directly led to his being let go by the promotion. As our man Reverend Kain explained it:
During a promo segment opposite Stokely Hathaway, manager to Evolve World Champion Timothy Thatcher, with whom Joey has been feuding with to an extent, he veered off topic to say that despite Evolve vice-president and booker Gabe Sapolsky forbidding him to make political jokes, he had a live microphone. He proceeded to compliment ring announcer Joanna Rose on her appearance before suggesting that the president-elect might like to “grab her by the—”, cutting himself off and saying that the word he left out brings him to Mr. Hathaway.
PW Insider notes Gabe Sapolsky specifically told everyone in the locker room not to get political during the show. They also note that Styles didn’t plan the remark but was just riffing and it came off bad. He apologized to the entire locker room, specifically Rose (who apparently wasn’t offended by it), refused to be paid for doing the show, and left before it was over.
Today, Sapolsky commented publicly:
EVOLVE is meant to be a fun escape from the world, not a basis of political debate. There was a mandate not to get political last night.
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) November 13, 2016
The line will be edited off all replays of the show.