In 2011, Cole stirred more controversy by tweeting fellow announcer Josh Matthews the simple message "@joshmatthews fa***t". He quickly deleted the message and apologised for the homophobic slur, but offered no actual explanation. It's possible that Cole was playing up to his onscreen persona, being a heel at the time. However, WWE probably wish he had a little more self-awareness when doing so. According to BleacherReport, he was actually sent to GLAAD training in the aftermath of the incident.