Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has denied an earlier report that the media company blocked Brody King from appearing on this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite broadcast, purportedly out of concern about a repeat of last week’s crowd reaction against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
“Warner Bros. Discovery did not have any involvement in Brody King’s upcoming AEW schedule. Any speculation to the contrary is categorically false,” a WBD spokesperson stated to POST Wrestling. “Brody is scheduled to appear during the next AEW event, which will air this Saturday on TNT and HBO Max.”
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported on Thursday that King was absent from the broadcast because WBD did not want “Fuck ICE” chants to be heard on the program after those chants from fans occurred the prior week, leading to coverage from multiple mainstream outlets like NBC News and The Daily Beast. The latter has also picked up Meltzer’s most recent report on Thursday.
An AEW official with direct knowledge of this subject affirmed WBD’s denial. The source indicated to POST Wrestling that Meltzer’s report is incorrect and that WBD’s statement is true.
We raised to WBD’s spokesperson that some readers were interpreting the phrase “upcoming schedule” in the company’s statement as leaving open the possibility that Meltzer’s reporting was still accurate. The spokesperson responded that the denial “includes yesterday’s show,” and emphasized that the report is categorically false.
King has publicly condemned the actions of the ICE, and is selling shirts with all proceeds going to the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.
The WBD statement can be read as indicating King’s travel schedule to Australia being the reason why he wasn’t on Dynamite on Wednesday, rather than any decision from the network.
King is scheduled to face MJF for the AEW World Title this Saturday in Sydney, Australia, as part of AEW Grand Slam, which will air on a short delay in the U.S. on TNT and HBO Max.
Meltzer reported that WBD wanted to avoid negative chants toward ICE on TBS, fearing that Trump’s administration could retaliate by blocking the company’s pending merger with Netflix, which requires federal approval.
“This is, again, not a Tony [Khan] call. This is from above,” Meltzer said on his podcast. “You know what it is, nobody wants to get on Trump’s bad side. If it wasn’t for that, nobody would care. It’s just a chant, but unfortunately they’ve [WBD] got a company they’re trying to sell and get regulatory approval from a guy [Trump] who is gonna take that stuff personal.”
