Brody King was asked at a Squared Circle Expo VI panel whether art and politics could be separated, or whether wrestling was inherently linked to both. He answered with a two-word view on Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“F**k ICE.”
The panel, hosted by Josh Shernoff and uploaded to STF Media’s YouTube channel on May 3, also featured Eddie Kingston, Ortiz, and Orange Cassidy. The fan question came as the closing exchange of the session.
“I think politics and art are so either intrinsically tied or you can separate them, and wrestling is different,” the fan said. “I guess my question is, do you separate wrestling and politics and art, or do you think that it can’t be separated and it’s all intrinsically linked together?”
The moderator joked that Brody would make a good politician.
“I’m absolutely not a politician. I just believe in what I think is right and wrong,” King said. “I think that all art forms in its basis are to make a statement. And whatever that is, good or bad, that is what art is for. And wrestling is an art form, and it is a way for people to express themselves. And when the masses are frustrated about something, that’s going to come out in a certain way.”
“People want to say, just shut up and wrestle. Don’t talk about political statements,” Kingston said. “Our president is in the WWE Hall of Fame. That’s all I gotta say.”
“I don’t care if he wrestled or not. He can go f**k himself.”
Eddie Kingston: “I believe if you have the platform to do positive change, and you don’t do it, you’re a dick. You’re wrong,” Eddie Kingston said. “So if you have the platform, use it. If it’s something you truly believe in, use it for positive.”
Kingston pointed to his early days in AEW and a Black Lives Matter shirt he wore to a match while his contract paperwork was still fresh.
“AEW is great in this sense as well. I remember my first, was it my first time, the ink wasn’t even drying my contract, and I walked out with a Black Lives Matter shirt,” Kingston said. “And everyone was like, oh, did you ask Tony? Tony looked at it. Said, yeah, good. He lets us express ourselves.”
Kingston added a qualifier on what kind of statement should ride a wrestler’s platform.
“It has to be positive. If it’s not positive, I think all the boys would be like, what are you doing?” Kingston said. “If you have that type of power to reach that many people and you don’t use it for good, then you’re wrong, in my opinion.”
Donald Trump was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s celebrity wing in 2013 by Vince McMahon at Madison Square Garden during WrestleMania 29 weekend. The induction was tied to Trump hosting WrestleMania IV and V at the venue across from his Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and to his on-camera role in the Battle of the Billionaires match at WrestleMania 23, where Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga and Trump shaved McMahon’s head. Trump is the only WWE Hall of Famer to have served as President of the United States.
Squared Circle Expo VI ran March 27 and 28, 2026 at the Wyndham Indianapolis West in Indianapolis. The full panel is up on the STF Media YouTube channel.
