Fans of WWE in the early 2010s will likely remember Brad Maddox, who made his main roster debut as a “referee” in 2012 before revealing himself as a heel wrestler and eventually rising to become the General Manager of the red brand. After wrapping up his stint as an authority figure, Maddox mostly disappeared from TV, and his time in WWE came to a controversial end in 2015.

As it turned out, Maddox was let go by the company after leveling an expletive towards fans while wrestling a dark match during a “WWE Main Event” taping. Speaking to Rolling Stone just days after his release, Maddox revealed the insult that led to Vince McMahon firing him.

“I called the Indianapolis crowd ‘pr**ks,'” Maddox said. “I didn’t think anything of it. That’s never been a bad word to me. I didn’t think it was inappropriate. Vince was watching and did not like it.”

Following the incident, Maddox wanted an opportunity to explain himself to McMahon, but he wasn’t given the chance. The wrestler’s defense was that it was a dark match and he was merely trying to rile up the crowd, and Maddox stated that about half of the locker room agreed with his stance. However, that didn’t play a factor in management’s decision, and Maddox never wrestled for the company again.

Though he continued wrestling on the independent scene for a while after his WWE departure, Maddox eventually decided to retire from the industry. His name would once again draw controversy in 2017, when explicit personal videos featuring Maddox and WWE wrestler Paige (AKA Saraya) were leaked online.