Anthony Bowens reflects on the night that he was able to publicly turn down the advances of Harley Cameron on AEW Rampage, leading to an entire arena chanting, "He's gay."
On the June 23, 2023 episode of AEW Rampage, Anthony Bowens was allowed to shut down Harley Cameron's attempts to seduce him by reminding her, "Lady, I'm gay." The crowd corrupted into applause for Bowes and jeers for Cameron. However, Bowens says what fans saw on TV was a small snippet of the reaction they actually got.
Appearing on ROAR Around The Ring, Bowens revealed that QT Marshall approached him with the idea for the segment. He says it was exactly what he was looking for because he had wanted to shine a light on LGBTQ+ visibility, without having too serious of a moment.
"That was something that QT approached me with and asked if I was comfortable doing it. because he thought it would be a great idea and a great segment for visibility, and it was just fun. I said, sure, absolutely. I had been waiting to do something like that on television, but I didn't want it to be forced. I wanted it to be organic. I wanted it to be fun. Cause that's how I like things to be. I don't want it to be like this big, serious thing, even though it, you know, it can be in certain instances," Bowens explained. "So I was like, 'Sure, absolutely.' I didn't know what the reaction was going to be. I'd say all the time, I felt maybe I would get like a, like a light cheer or whatever, but to have, to have a full arena on their feet and then chanting that it was, I couldn't help, but smile. Like we're all smiling in the ring."
Anthony Bowens would go on to credit Harley Cameron for being a very talented performer and for also standing in the ring while she was booed for five minutes straight. He also revealed that AEW trimmed the segment significantly for time and TV viewers heard only a snippet of the jeers toward Cameron that night.
"Hats off to Harley, too. She's extremely talented and super funny. I don't think it came across on the broadcast, but she was booed. Remember, that was a taped show. She was booed for five minutes straight. They cut it down for TV for, I think, maybe about 30 seconds or whatever it was. But we were standing there for a very long time to the point where I couldn't even hear what she was saying. So if you were in the arena that night, you witnessed something very special."
Fans can read Harley Cameron's thoughts on the viral segment here.
Anthony Bowens would one day like to become the first openly gay AEW World Champion, too. Read his thoughts on that matter here.
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