Britt Baker issues response to the controversy surrounding her AEW black eye t-shirt

May 4, 2023 - by James Walsh

While speaking to SI.com, Britt Baker addressed the controversy over her AEW black eye t-shirt…

“I was very surprised. When I posted the picture of my black eye on social media, it got almost 100,000 likes saying that I’m tough and I’m a badass and, ‘Wow, this girl, she’s strong.’ It was empowering. But then when it went on a shirt, it was really problematic, and that was so confusing to me. Because why? If I’m on a shirt with a black eye, why does that make me weak? Why does that make me a victim? But if a man, or Chris Jericho, had a black eye, they would be seen as tough and they would be a badass. To me, it’s showing the internal narrative that people are saying about women—and that’s that we’re not as strong or as tough as the men, and that’s the real problem here.

It’s not a black eye on a T-shirt. Sometimes I do get hurt. I’ve broken my leg, my wrist, my nose, and guess what? Now I have a black eye and I signed up for that. I’ve actually been telling the makeup artist, ‘Don’t cover up my black eye.’ Because I think it’s empowering, because I’m tough. You should see the other girl.”

3 Responses

  1. art123guy says:

    Maybe if it had AEW Wrestling bigger on it and a saying, ‘Britt Baker: Tough as Nails’ or something, to put some context to it. As it stands, it looks like a picture of a battered wife/girlfriend.

  2. Really? says:

    Agreed. I don’t see it as Problematic™, but unlike so many of these blown-out-of-proportion “controversies” I can see how someone who doesn’t follow AEW might. Britt has a very good point, but (unfortunately) in the world we’re living in, context matters.

  3. stezton says:

    I agree with art123guy. The photo could definitely use some context. As just a picture with none/very little it looks like a freaking police evidence photo from an abuse case.

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