WWE Champion Cody Rhodes opened up about an unexpectedly controversial moment from early 2021 — when a routine promotional tweet accidentally placed him at the center of political backlash.
Appearing on Bert Kreischer’s podcast, Rhodes recalled tweeting a GIF of himself gesturing “come on,” along with the caption “January 6, bring it.” While the post was meant to promote the season premiere of his TBS competition series Go-Big Show, it was published on the same day the U.S. Capitol was attacked, immediately sparking outrage online.
“So the Capitol riots were January 6, right? So I don’t know if this actually relates to Go Big Show, but we debuted the second season on January 6, and it lives in infamy,” Rhodes explained. “Especially because I try not to be on social as much, but I can still get pretty gotten-to about a moment here and there. But I put a GIF of me in the ring going like this, ‘Come on,’ and all I wrote was ‘January 6,’ and it’s me doing that. And I couldn’t explain it because not enough people watched Go Big Show. I can’t explain to them, ‘No, no, it was a show that we were doing.’”
Rhodes said some critics twisted the tweet to fit assumptions about his political beliefs.
“And it really checks the box because there’s a group of people that is just insistent on, ‘That guy’s clearly a Republican. He’s had a Trump hat before. He has a necktie. He’s from Georgia. He’s clearly—’ whereas my family is super moderate, fairly a lifetime liberal family. We’ve been all over the map. But those people — there’s no way I’m convincing them,” Rhodes continued. “I mean, it’s the US flag on the side of my neck. It would be a waste of my time to try and say, ‘Hey, I think a little differently than you perceive.’ But okay, you know.”
Rhodes summed up his political stance bluntly: “I’m very moderate. So that means I have no voice. Like no voice.”
