Santino Marella has seemingly responded to the criticism he has received for booking Marty Scurll.
Marella announced that he booked Scurll for his upcoming Battle Arts promotion show in Toronto on August 13.
The announcement came via a now deleted Tweet on Marella’s Twitter account. Scurll himself also appeared in the video Marella posted, saying fans will see a side of “The Villain” that they’ve never seen before.
The reason for the backlash over the booking comes from accusations made against Scurll back in 2020. He’s accused of sleeping with a 16-year-old girl in the UK.
After the accusations, Scurll was essentially black balled from professional wrestling, only appearing sporadically at events, finding it difficult to get bookings.
However, in the wake of the criticism Marella has received from fans online for booking Scurll, he responded momentarily with a Tweet that read, “Everyone deserves a second chance to redeem themselves.”
Santino Marella quickly deleted the Tweet. It remains unclear whether or not he will keep Scurll booked in the wake of the blowback.
Scurll himself has since responded to the accusations with the following statement.
“I am aware that a young woman has bravely come forward with her account of sexual abuse by some members of the wrestling community in the UK 5 years ago, a community I was a part of.
“Although I truly believe that our encounter that evening was consensual, and the fact that the encounter was legal; is almost not the point. I understand that she now views our encounter as part of a bigger problem within the wrestling community.
“What concerns me at this moment is that from what I have been reading, she is a fan of wrestling and was made to feel unsafe within that community. This is not acceptable. I also understand that people have been attacking her on social media, and I implore you to please stop. She has a right to her voice and it is our responsibility to listen.”
