Tessa Blanchard Releases Statement Denying Rascal Slur

Last weekend Tessa Blanchard sent out a tweet asking women to support other women and she was met with backlash. Allysin Kay and Chelsea Green called Blanchard out for being a bully and using a racial slur at a woman of color. Blanchard initially denied the accusation and had not said anything else since Saturday afternoon.

Thursday evening, Blanchard released another statement on the matter stating,

“Over the last week I have been accused of calling a fellow wrestler a racial slur. To read this allegation has been personally upsetting. To be clear, I absolutely did not use that word. That word is not in my vocabulary. That word is not in my heart. Racism is not in my heart.

Yet I know many people have to deal with racism in a way I will never have to. Racism is an awful part of American history, and it is equally awful that its still part of our society today. While I did not do what was claimed, I stand ready to use my platform to support the fight against racism however I can.”

The original claim was that while in Japan in 2017 Blanchard spat in the face of a woman of color and called her the n-word. Other women besides Kay also said that they were either there or told the story. The women in question also confirmed that the incident did happen both on social media and in an interview.

This new denial really came out of nowhere as since the weekend the story basically seemed to have died down with little to no people talking about it.