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Jim Ross was recently accused of racism by WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, and when asked about it, ex-WWE writer Vince Russo gave his take on the situation.On the latest episode of Writing with Russo, host Dr. Chris Featherstone brought up D-Von Dudley's quote, where he spoke about experiencing racism in WWE in the late 1990s and early 2000s. D-Von Dudley insisted that he didn't face the same racism in ECW, and JR was singled out for allegedly saying something racist.Vince Russo spoke about an incident in TNA after The Dudley Boyz broke up, and Bubba Ray Dudley's career skyrocketed. Russo said that in this particular instance, D-Von never accused anybody of being racist and was open to feedback. However, he didn't dismiss the possibility of Jim Ross saying something racist:"That's exactly what happened - Bubba [Ray Dudley] worked his butt off and D-Von did nothing. He [D-Von] came and asked me, 'Vince, what's the deal? Why is Bubba getting a push and I'm not?' And I said, 'D-Von, look at you and look at him. Look at the work he's put in'. As soon as I said that, there was no argument; he went right to work. You could see the change, and we started giving D-Von the push. That's what I'm saying, somebody can say something you perceive the wrong way, or maybe JR said something that was straight out racist. I didn't see that in JR, personally."You can watch the full video below:D-Von Dudley confirmed it was Jim Ross whom he accused of being racist.When the news first exploded, it was because D-Von Dudley frankly said that in the late 1990s and early 2000s in WWE, the mentality was very much like the 1950s or 1960s. He described the WWE environment as being a "white man's business" where a black person couldn't speak up for themselves.Speaking to Duke LovesWrasslin, D-Von Dudley confirmed that he was, in fact, talking about Jim Ross:"Did I come out and say ten-gallon hat? Yes. Did Maven let the cat out of the bag? Yes. Was it JR? Yes. I did have a problem with JR back then. I didn't know why," said D-Von [7:45-7:58].It seems like they didn't have issues afterwards, but this is perhaps the single biggest accusation made against Jim Ross. He held a crucial backstage and on-air position and is revered worldwide by WWE fans as one of the all-time great non-wrestling figures in wrestling. It's also why Tony Khan didn't hesitate to snap JR up when WWE didn't want him anymore at the turn of the decade.JR, for his part, has yet to respond to these accusations from D-Von Dudley.If you use the quotes from the first half of this article, please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the episode of Writing with Russo.
