WWE Issue Apology Statement After LaMelo Ball Uses Racial Slur On Raw

Last night's Raw saw LaVar Ball and his basketball-playing sons LaMelo and Lonzo guest star in an in-ring segment with The Miz, his entourage, and Dean Ambrose. Unfortunately, things didn't exactly go to plan, as the 15-year-old LaMelo was caught yelling "beat that [expletive]" towards Ambrose and Miz, dropping a hard N-word.

The segment was supposed to forge a union between Ambrose and the Ball family's 'Big Baller Brand,' though it quickly devolved into chaos, with a shirtless LaVar throwing karate poses at Miz. LaMelo's faux pas came just prior to Dean's arrival, and the segment soon went viral, with Sports Illustrated publishing a censored version of the exchange:-

WWE were understandably upset by what had happened, and issued the following statement to the LA Times this morning:-

"The inappropriate language used by a guest during the 'Miz TV' segment was not scripted nor reflects WWE's values."

LaMelo is a high school junior in Chino Hills, California, but already has a scholarship to play basketball at UCLA. His brother Lonzo was recently selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the number two pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. The segment's significance was that it was the first time Lonzo had set foot in LA's Staples Center since joining the Lakers last Thursday, though this was obviously overshadowed by LaMelo.