WWE's Backstage Reaction To Carlito's "I Gotta Learn Chinese" Revealed
"I gotta learn Chinese," said Carlito on WWE Raw towards IYO SKY and Kairi Sane.
Carlito's controversial "I gotta learn Chinese" line towards Japanese stars IYO SKY and Kairi Sane on Monday's WWE Raw has left several people within the promotion unhappy and disbelieving.
Per Fightful Select, at least one staff member has indicated that the line wasn't scripted, leaving them in disbelief when it came out of Carlito's mouth. Additionally, several WWE personnel weren't happy that it happened, though there is currently no word on any formal action taken or backstage heat.
SKY and Sane had been interacting with authority figure Adam Pearce to open the segment. Carlito entered as they exited, uttering "I gotta learn Chinese." Although the line was broadcast on live television, WWE has edited it out of all digital uploads.
Carlito, 45, has been back in WWE full-time since October 2023's Fastlane pay-per-view, having previous returned on May's Backlash show in his native Puerto Rico. He is currently aligned with Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Liv Morgan, and Raquel Rodriguez in The Judgment Day.
Carlito's WWE Raw Line Should Never Have Happened
Carlito's "I gotta learn Chinese" was a tone-deaf blunder that shouldn't have passed quality control.
If it wasn't scripted, and Carlito improvised, he should have considered the potential implications of confusing Japanese and Chinese people on television. If it passed through the creative process, a writer, agent, producer, or Paul Levesque should have spoken up and hit the "nope" button.
WWE deleting the clip from digital uploads tells you what they think of it. If the company was happy putting its name to Carlito's line, they wouldn't have made the edits. This degree of oversight should have been applied during Raw too.
The argument that the intent was to make Carlito look stupid, therefore absolving any blame, doesn't carry much weight. Carlito did look stupid - and looking stupid fits his character. "I gotta learn Chinese" is an objectively dumb thing to say about two Japanese women. Nonetheless, intent matters little in this scenario. If something can reasonably be interpreted as racially ignorant (and confusing Japanese people for Chinese can), it should be omitted, regardless of the segment's goal.