Report: Warner Bros. Discovery Blocks Brody King From AEW Dynamite Following "F*ck ICE" Chants

UPDATE:

Since the publication of this article, Warner Bros. Discovery have issued the following statement:

"Warner Bros. Discovery did not have any involvement in Brody King's upcoming AEW schedule. Any speculation to the contrary is categorically false. Brody is scheduled to appear during the next AEW event, which will air this Saturday on TNT and HBO Max."

AEW have also told Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp that the rumours of WBD blocking Brody King from the February 11 episode are "totally untrue."

Dave Meltzer has also offered the following clarification: "Those at AEW have said nobody from WBD asked them not to use Brody King on last night's show and this was just how it was booked to only use him in a video package. We had heard over the weekend that there were concerns about how much pub the situation had gotten from the WBD side, but those at AEW said that they were not told not to put him on the show. So this corrects the report from last night. It had been a topic of discussion over the weekend."

Original Story:

Brody King was absent from Wednesday night's episode of AEW Dynamite, and it reportedly wasn't a Tony Khan decision not to have him on the show.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW minority owner and TV partner Warner Bros. Discovery made the call not to have Brody King on Dynamite due to the prospect of further "F*ck ICE" chants. WBD reportedly wanted to avoid upsetting WWE Hall of Famer and United States President Donald Trump because of the pending Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition by Netflix, which still requires regulatory approval.

"The deal is that they didn't want the fans in the arena to be chanting that. If Brody came out, there was that risk…when he comes back, it will happen again. I don't know how they're going to handle it. This is again not a Tony call. This is from above. 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 who is gonna take that stuff personal. That's just how it is. No Brody King on the show when he absolutely, of course - of course Brody King and MJF should have had a segment on the show," Meltzer said.

Both MJF and Brody King were absent from AEW Dynamite and their AEW World Title match at Grand Slam Australia was promoted through a video package on Wednesday night.

King earned the title shot courtesy of his squash win over MJF on last week's Dynamite at the Pearl Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fans chanted "F*ck ICE" before the match, with Brody King having previously worn an 'Abolish ICE' t-shirt at pro wrestling events. The chants received mainstream attention, something people in AEW were said to be happy about.

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