The Guy Who Made That Pro Wrestling CNN Video Has Apologized

As you’ve doubtlessly heard, President Donald Trump tweeted a video of his brief professional wrestling stint in which he’s beating up a guy with the CNN logo superimposed over his head.

That tweet drew widespread condemnation from both sides of the political aisle, but it was actually spawned on the Reddit boards, by a Redditor named “Han A**hole Solo.” And now, he’s apologizing for both that video and a number of other memes —many of them with ugly racist overtones.



[/lborder] The apology was made as a lengthy post on Reddit (where else?). CNN journalist Andrew Kaczynski reached out to the Redditor (he is keeping his true identity a secret, saying only that he is a “middle-aged man.”) and it seems the two had a productive conversation.

According to Kaczynski, the White House did not ask his permission before using the video, and he would not have given it if they did. “I didn’t realize that post would be picked up the way it was,” he told CNN. “I should have never even said anything.”

His Reddit post went onto say that:

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The post made in a heavily pro-Trump subreddit called The_Donald, whose moderators have since deleted it.

The fact that CNN reached out to the man was met with some controversy, as some interpreted their actions as “doxxing” (threatening to leak an anonymous internet user’s personal information online). Kaczynski says there was no such threat, nor did the Redditor interpret it as such.

The Redditor found himself in an extraordinarily unique situation: A creation of his was taken and broadcast on one of the highest, most public platforms imaginable. Questions of whether or not Trump should have tweeted the video aside, it is notable that this guy recognized his own past mistakes and was willing to come clean about them, however unpopular that might be among his own community.

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