Chad Nicholls and son confront Shawn Ray at 2023 Arnold Classic.
A shocking incident took place at the 2023 Arnold Classic, between and Chad Nicholls, his son Dominic, and bodybuilding legend Shawn Ray.
It’s a known fact that Shawn Ray and Chad Nicholls don’t see eye to eye. Shawn Ray has been calling out Chad Nicholls for years, due to his alleged dangerous protocols used during contest prep for bodybuilding’s elite athletes.
Shawn Ray is on record saying that Chad is allegedly responsible for a number of deaths and serious health issues with various bodybuilders, throughout the years. Shawn gave a detailed interview with Patrick Bet David, three years ago.
Shawn was very critical of Chad, alleging some serious accusations against the popular coach.
Chad also was given the opportunity to respond to Shawn Ray on Patrick Bet David’s show.
Chad and Dominic Nicholls confront Shawn Ray
During the 2023 Arnold Classic, Chad Nicholls and his son Dominic, allegedly confronted Shawn Ray on two occasions during the event.
The first confrontation took place after the athletes meeting, with both Chad and his son Dominic, confronting Shawn Ray, mainly because of his comments in recent years.
As usual, Shawn Ray is not an aggressive person, and just shrugged off the threats from Chad and his son, in a diplomatic way, according to sources close to Evolutionofbodybuilding.net.
Unfortunately the footage of the first confrontation was not recorded and at the time of publishing this article, it was not available.
After the incident, Chad’s son immediately published a post on his social media pages, asking if anybody has the footage of their confrontation with Shawn.
A day passed, and no footage surfaced from the first confrontation between Shawn Ray, Chad, and son.
In a strange turn of events, Chad Nicholls son, Dominic, desperately wanted footage of his confrontation with Shawn, so he decided to approach him again, but this time making sure the incident was recorded.
While Shawn was minding his own business and meeting fans at his sponsors booth, Dominic walks up to him, and immediately starts threatening him.
Shawn Ray is heard saying, “Oh no, not again” upon first seeing Dominic Nicholls, confirming their first altercation the previous day.
“I don’t want to hear you say one more f*cking word about my f*cking dad okay? Next time I see you, I’m going to kick your f*cking ass, got it? Alright? I don’t want to hear one thing about the f*cking cops… don’t make me f*cking me come back.” – Dominic Nicholls to Shawn Ray
In his usual manner, Shawn just laughed of the threats, and handled himself like a gentleman, contrary to the aggressive nature of Chad’s son.
This definitely was not the place for such a confrontation, especially using that type of language during the expo.
“I don’t want to hear you say one more f*cking word about my f*cking dad okay? Next time I see you, I’m going to kick your f*cking ass, got it? Alright? I don’t want to hear one thing about the f*cking cops… don’t make me f*cking me come back.” – Dominic Nicholls to Shawn Ray
Chad and Dominic Nicholls criticized on social media
Immediately after the footage started to make its rounds, the majority of viewers criticized Chad Nicholls and his son Dominic, in regards to the way they handled the situation and attacked Shawn Ray so aggressively.
Shawn is not the most loved personality in the industry, due to the way he exposes certain situations, without holding back. The majority of the time, Shawn is correct, even though it might not sound right to certain people.
In a shocking turn of events, the majority of comments were in favor of Shawn Ray. The majority of posts published, criticized Chad and his son on the way they attacked Shaw.
Even personalities such as Lee Priest, who has a history of criticizing Shawn Ray, backed his former opponent, calling out Chad and his son for doing something so stupid.
Former Classic Physique Olympia winner, Danny Hester, was also vocal about the incident, slamming Chad and his son for the way they handled the situation.
Numerous people also criticized Chad for not handling the situation alone, but rather using his son.
Chad Nicholls controversy with Evolutionofbodybuilding.net
A few weeks before the 2023 Arnold Classic, William Bonac, who is a client of Chad Nicholls, revealed during an interview that he was having some kidney issues.
Chad and his son, immediately went to Evolutionofbodybuilding.net‘s social media and started publishing numerous comments against the site and its owner, Kevin Grech.
Read More: William Bonac puts health at risk to compete at the 2023 Arnold Classic.
Read More: Chad Nicholls and William Bonac in damage control after recent interview
Chad Nicholls could not understand the fact, that it was his client that said he possibly had some kidney issues, and delayed taking the prescribed medication, so he can continue his prep for the 2023 Arnold Classic.
The back and forth on Evolutionofbodybuilding.net’s social media was very similar to the confrontation with Shawn Ray a few weeks later.
A very dangerous situation for the media
This confrontation between Chad and Dominic Nicholls with Shawn Ray, reveals the reality of how the media is being treated within the sport of bodybuilding.
Shawn Ray is part of bodybuilding media, since the day he retired from the sport. Over the years, with the growth of social media, and numerous websites, the media has been more critical of the sport.
The sport of bodybuilding could not continue doing certain things behind the scenes, everything was now in the open, with certain incidents being exposed and criticized.
Unfortunately, the health of bodybuilders, and certain coaching methods have been under the spotlight, sometimes in a negative way.
When certain news articles or podcasts are published, unfortunately, they get a backlash from the athletes, coaches and even the people that run the federations.
The consequences of owning a media channel, is that some federations or companies allegedly blacklist the journalist or company. This would mean the media outlet would allegedly find it very difficult to get advertisers or sponsors, and also would be refused press accreditation for bodybuilding events.
Many bodybuilding journalists end up keeping silent, becoming puppets to the people that run the sport.
The incident that occurred between Shawn Ray and Chad and Dominic Nicholls, should have been investigated by the Pro League or the NPC.
Dominic Nicholls literally threatened Shawn Ray in a public place, while Shawn Ray was minding his own business doing his job.
The solution to such an incident was to kick Dominic Nicholls out of the event, or give his father a harsh warning for this to never happen again.
If Chad Nicholls had a problem with Shawn Ray, and he believed that he had proof to prove him wrong, he should have handled the situation through other avenues.
What Chad and his son did, will definitely not silence Shawn Ray, Evolutionofbodyuilding.net, or any other media outlet, in fact the media should be even more critical of the problems within the sport, and expose them.
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