Wrestling Star CM Punk Goes Viral for Speech on Trans Rights Support in the Ring After Match
Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire
AEW star CM Punk made waves this weekend as he spoke in support of trans rights after a victory in the ring.
This weekend marked the debut of AEW Collision where CM Punk, real name Phillip Brooks, was making a comeback after ten months away. He was the main event alongside AEW’s World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler), but even after besting their opponents Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Juice Robinson, and ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe), Punk wasn’t finished playing to the crowd.
Following the match, Punk invited a fan into the ring who was carrying a sign that read “Support LGBTQ+ Kids” and launched into a speech that went viral on social media:
The reason I support trans kids, trans grown-ups, gay, straight, lesbian, whoever, is because I know when I was growing up, I didn’t fit in anywhere. That it was because of the clothes I wore, what my hair looked like, the music I listened to. Those are all things I can rectify. I can cut my hair, I can listen to jazz, I don’t know what. But to be somebody who’s gay, lesbian, and especially trans, I don’t know what it feels like to be trapped in a body that I don’t feel I belong in.
That is why I support that. Because I know I didn’t fit in anywhere until I found pro-wrestling and all the freaks and geeks in the locker room who are just like me. Maybe because they’re a little psychotic and they couldn’t hold down a real job, but that’s another story. Support trans kids, support gay and lesbian rights. I want everybody to be themselves. Just do no harm to everybody else.
He prefaced the speech with a brief story about a “faceless” commenter who disagreed with his support of the LGBTQ+ community, saying he wanted to respond, but decided against it: “You can’t argue with stupid, okay?”
You can watch the speech here:
Part 2 pic.twitter.com/faYKNZfy1O
— Christine (@ShiningPolaris) June 18, 2023
Here’s the same speech from another angle:
The social media response has been largely positive, with many fans tweeting their support. Some say they’re fans of CM Punk, but they don’t agree with him.
And if you’d like to see how the match itself went, here’s AEW’s recap.
