PWTorch.com is reporting that Kelly was released over recent comments made on X.
It was noted that Kelly had been removed from the AEW roster page on Thursday and was not present on the broadcast of Thursday’s Collision taping in Duluth, Georgia. The commentary was handled by Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness.
When asked for comment by POST Wrestling, Kelly responded:
It’s an internal matter. We are handling it within the organization.
He did not confirm his release to us.
In a series of tweets, Kelly insinuated that colleague Ian Riccaboni had affected his career:
When you go out of your way to intentionally mischaracterize my raising awareness of the global horrors of child trafficking to a fringe conspiracy theory that everyone knows is bulls–t in order to hurt my career and standing in the industry, that at the very least is libelous.
Last year, Ian Riccaboni made comments on a Discord server and was critical of Kelly’s promotion of the 2023 film “Sound of Freedom” and its perceived ties to the QAnon movement.
Kelly joined AEW last June as a part of the broadcast team for Collision and left his role at NJPW several months later, where he had been the voice on the English broadcasts since 2016.
Ian definitely shouldn’t have been griping about a colleague so frankly on a semi-public server, but it does somewhat seem that Kelly ‘Streisand Effected’ himself here. Had he handled his beef with Ian more discreetly, I don’t think the average AEW fan ends up hearing anything about his politics, and this all gets taken care of privately. Kelly’s fairly right-leaning (if not full QAon) views were known when he was hired, so I’m guessing it’s more the ‘publicly threatening legal action against a colleague over some stupid internet drama’ side of this which got him canned than anything he actually believes.
FWIW, I thought that while Kelly had a fairly rough start to his work on Collision, that that was more a product of the change in rhythm, timing, and priorities between American TV and New Japan. And not that it matters now, but he was adjusting and improving and I think if you listened to his earliest AEW calls next to his most recent ones that there’s a palpable difference. Similar to the amplification of his conflict with Ian, I think if Kevin doesn’t take the ‘I’m the best in the biz and the haters are just jealous’ tack he’d have looked a lot better in the eyes of a fanbase who can likely still remember him throwing to commercial at all the wrong times and mangling Andrade’s name.
I’ve never heard of the movie. Reading the plot on Wikipedia, how is this related to QAnon or religion in general? I guess the main actor is a believer? And the person, whom the protagonist is based on, is highly problematic in real life?
Professionally, I’m a fan of Kevin Kelly. He did/does well in New Japan and would be perfect to call the Okada, Omega, and Osperay matches in AEW.
I don’t agree with/understand what Kelly believes in, but to each his own.
Also, church groups and conservative groups were mass buying tickets - leading the film to play in empty theatres across North America, while still making big money. However it fueled conspiracy theories around the movie “being buried” by theatres, because people who tried to buy tickets were told it was sold out and couldn’t get it. So it became “the movie THEY don’t want you to see”.
I don’t separate the man from the views that easily - if you are a toxic nut nut job like Val Venis or this guy said I’m sorry, but just because you’re a decent announcer doesn’t get you a free pass
I’m not sure if Kelly is doing well financially? Probably well. How’s about just shush… for your career and longevity? Stay off twitter. I guarantee a wrestling promotion is itching to make QNon a faction, similar to the Ministry, Brood, Wyatt Family, Raven’s whole career, Right To Censor?
I appreciate your response. I feel the same. It sucks that the people that we watch, look up-to, and respect in the entertainment industry, are so problematic and not the people we projected them to be in real life.
