Tessa Blanchard Issues Statement On Racism Accusations: ‘I Absolutely Did Not Use That Word’
Photo Credit: Bill Pritchard
Tessa Blanchard has had a huge month, becoming the first woman to hold a wrestling promotion’s top heavyweight championship after winning in the main event of Impact’s Hard to Kill. Unfortunately, Blanchard’s supposed past actions have put a damper on that achievement. On the same day that she was to win the title, several wrestlers on Twitter claimed that she spewed racist remarks to La Rosa Negra in Japan several years ago.
Tessa alluded to the incident in her post-match speech after the cameras were off at Hard to Kill, and she’s now come back with a full statement posted to Twitter. In it, Tessa denies the accusations, saying that she “absolutely did not use that word. She also states that racism and the word in question are “not in [her] heart,” that “racism is an awful part of American history,” and that she wants to use her platform to “support the fight against racism, however [she] can.”
I hope everyone will take a moment to read this. pic.twitter.com/gRPUlCYd6a
— Tessa Blanchard (@Tess_Blanchard) January 17, 2020
RELATED: La Rosa Negra Speaks Out On Tessa Blanchard Incident, Overcoming Racism