Vince Russo Says Tony Khan Should Have Never Allowed Brody King’s “Abolish ICE” Shirt on AEW TV

Tony Khan is catching heat after Brody King wore an “Abolish ICE” shirt on AEW television — and Vince Russo says the controversy never should have happened in the first place.

The debate exploded following Brody King’s appearance on AEW programming, but instead of focusing on the political message itself, Russo zeroed in on what he believes was a leadership failure at the top of All Elite Wrestling.

According to Russo, the issue isn’t about free speech — it’s about business. During a recent discussion on Vince Russo’s Brand podcast, Russo argued that Khan should have stepped in before the shirt ever made it to national television.

“Well, I think it goes back to Tony and we talk about this all the time, Al. We talk about why would you want to split your audience? Tony should have never let him wear that gear out to the ring in the first place because yeah, bro, there are going to be people that are chanting F ICE and there are going to be people that never watch AEW again.”

Russo’s stance is clear — AEW is trying to grow its audience, not divide it. Al Snow backed that up, stressing that wrestling has historically served as an escape for fans looking to get away from real-world politics.

“I agree because wrestling, a wrestling program, entertainment should be a place of refuge to get away from the real world. It should be a place where you can go and not be inundated with those kinds of things.”

Snow acknowledged that some view wrestling as a platform for expression, but he pointed out that AEW is ultimately in the business of attracting as many viewers as possible.

“Now, some people will disagree and say that, well, it’s a platform and, you know, it’s a chance, but look, that’s not what Tony or AEW are in a business of appealing to a mass audience as big and as diverse and as open as possible.”

From there, the conversation shifted to advertisers — and why controversy makes executives nervous. Snow explained that brands want maximum reach and minimal backlash.

“And the reason they’re ultra sensitive is because the advertisers are very ultra sensitive. And if you’re in business and you just make laundry detergent, listen, you want to sell to everyone. You do not care about anyone’s views or ideas or thoughts or beliefs. You want to sell laundry detergent to the largest percentage of people that are in the population. That’s it.”

He then broke down the financial risk.

“And the second that there’s anything polarizing on any program that you are sponsoring, there’s potential that you would suffer some kind of financial backlash by simply, you know, a portion of that audience, a percentage, no matter what it is, going, you know what, we’re not going to buy your laundry detergent anymore because you sponsor these people.”

Snow made it clear this isn’t a new phenomenon. For Snow, the bigger issue is what wrestling represents to fans.

“That’s been since the beginning of advertising — what they associate with, what they sponsor, what they… and how it now reflects on them. And they are very, very cautious when that comes.”

“Entertainment has always been constructed as a refuge away from all of that.”

“People resent it when they come to a movie, a television show, a sporting event, whatever, and they’re coming there to forget, to buy into, believe, enjoy whatever that event is, and then, oh wait, here’s a reminder of the real world for you. You can’t get away from it.”

The takeaway from the segment wasn’t about silencing talent — it was about responsibility at the executive level. Russo’s message was blunt: Tony Khan should have never allowed the shirt on AEW television in the first place.

Now the question becomes whether AEW continues to allow personal political messaging on screen — or draws a harder line moving forward.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.