Hell of a night for Monday Night Raw. Hours after the arena caught fire due to a pyro malfunction, Abraham “A.W.” Washington, manager of tag team The Prime Time Players, is in hot water over a thinly veiled rape joke.
The incident occurred after Titus O’Neil defeated Kofi Kingston in a singles bout thanks to interference from from AW. As the two made their way to the back, AW, who wears a live mic during matches to coach the Prime Time Players, called out that Titus O’Neil “was like Kobe Bryant in a hotel room in Colorado: unstoppable”.
The comment was a call back to Kobe Bryant’s infamous sexual assault case in 2003, where he was accused of assaulting a woman in a hotel room in Eagle, Colorado.
When Raw returned to programming, announcers Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler immediately apologized for the comments. AW himself has reportedly apologized to numerous behind the scenes officials, and tweeted out an apology on his Twitter account, @AWPromotions. WWE has stated they will take “appropriate action”, but it is unknown at this time what that action will be.
