WWE: Sami Zayn stands up to a homophobic fan at a live event

WWE superstar Sami Zayn has always stood for causes bigger than himself, and he was an active ally against a bigoted fan at a recent live event.

Professional wrestling fans are becoming increasingly tired of bigots ruining shows across different promotions and locations around the world. There are some areas where bigotry is more prevalent than others, and Daytona, Florida has become notorious among WWE fans as a safe that is decidedly not safe.

NXT superfan Kyle recently shared a tweet with a photo showing Sami Zayn confronting a homophobic fan. It’s unclear what the fan said, but you can imagine the awful words that came out of his mouth.

Others have uploaded videos of the incident and confirmed that WWE kicked the homophobic individual out of the building. Hopefully, the promotion has also handed a ban, because there is simply no place for this kind of bigoted behavior.

And big ups go to Zayn for calling it out. He could have just ignored it and walked away like many people would, but Zayn decided to use his power to be an active ally. When homophobia happens and isn’t called out, it galvanizes other bigots, because they think it’s OK for them to yell slurs. They think they can get away with it, and it creates an unsafe environment for everyone. Nobody should want that, least of all WWE, even from a logical business perspective.

Zayn has always stood for what’s right.  His “Sami for Syria” campaign is partnered with the SAMS Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that works to provide medical services for civilians in the war-torn area of northwestern Syria. You can learn more about SAMS here.

It’s always disheartening to see examples of homophobia, transphobia racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination and abuse in life and in wrestling. But we all need to take a stand when we see it no matter the context. So thank you, Sami Zayn, for doing exactly that.