Joey Ryan has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple people in the past week. Since then, Ryan has come forward with a statement of his own on Twitter.
Ryan said that he’s been advised by an attorney to not address any allegations specifically. Instead, Ryan addressed his behavior in general and said that he is ready to take responsibility for his actions.
Ryan said that while living his “rock n’ roll” lifestyle, he did not treat women with respect. He said that he could have made people uncomfortable with his advances and invaded their personal spaces.
He then went on to say that he has been in therapy since October 2018 and has been trying to change himself as a person. He also said that he has always worked hard to make wrestling a safe and welcoming place for all.
After speaking with my attorney, I have been advised not to respond to any specific allegations at this time. And the truth of the matter is, I do not want to spend time dissecting which parts of stories are true, which parts are different from what I remember and which things being said are outright false. It is important for me to use this platform to take responsibility and not attempt to minimize the feelings of anyone that was hurt by me in order to save face.
So Instead, I would like to take this opportunity to share some parts of my private life with everyone. It is not a part of my life that I am proud of, but taking responsibility is important. Today, I must take responsibility for the way I behaved in the past, and I will do that right now.
As I am sure you are all aware, several years ago, and all in a very short period of time, a lot of things changed in my life. The ‘dick flip’ went viral. I started traveling the world and living a ‘rock n roll lifestyle.’ I came into contact with a lot of people, including women. And, the truth is, I did not always treat people with respect. And I will acknowledge that it was possible that I pursued people that I thought were interested in me and invaded their personal space and made them feel uncomfortable in the process.
Nearly two years ago, my ex-wife and I were separated. The separation impacted me greatly and I been to reflect on the person I had been previous to it, and the person that I wanted to be. During that self-reflection, I was not proud of what I saw. As a result, I entered counselling in October 2018 and still attend every week to this very day. I have been on prescription medication. I have worked every day for nearly two years to be a person that respects not only people’s boundaries, but respects people. If you felt that you were a person that I did not treat with respect, I apologize. Aside from this post, I have been reaching out to some of the people involved and we have had positive interactions and started the healing process.
I have worked hard to make wrestling a safe and welcoming place for everyone. I will make up for my shortcomings of the past by working harder in the future to continue to do that. With all of the different social movements happening right now, we need to take this opportunity to listen and learn and continue to strive every day to do better.
Joey Janela saw Ryan’s statement and quickly went onto his Twitter to call him out for it. Janela said that he considered Ryan his friend but he’s a “lying sack of f**king s*it”.
This dude is a lying sack of fucking shit, I used to be friends with Joey but the allegations him now and about to come out about him without an doubt are 100% true… https://t.co/5E9181Z7Ay
— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) June 21, 2020
