Dan Solomon breaks silence on Shawn Ray controversy.
In the latest episode of Cutler Cast, Jay Cutler’s special guest was Olympia Weekend Chief Operator, Dan Solomon.
Jay Cutler did not waste any time and started the episode with the subject of Shawn Ray.
Bodybuilding legend Shawn Ray has got himself in a lot of hot water lately after he expressed his opinion on the death of 2018 Mr. Olympia Shawn Rhoden.
Shawn Ray expressed his opinion about Shawn Rhoden on a show with Dave Palumbo.
Immediately after the show was published on Dave’s YouTube channel, the majority of the bodybuilding world went against Shawn Ray.
Shawn Rhoden’s coach Chris Aceto and his best friends, Guy Cisternino and Sergio Oliva Jr. demanded that Dave Palumbo remove the video with Shawn Ray from his channel.
After a few days, Dave Palumbo had to give in to the pressure and remove the video.
Shawn Ray is known not to hide when he expresses his opinion. The majority of the time, Shawn Ray will be correct in what he is saying, but it’s the way he expresses his opinion, that gets him in a lot of hot water.
This happened again when he talked about the death of Shawn Rhoden and what possibly led to his death with Dave Palumbo.
Chris Aceto has continued to campaign for Jake Wood and Jim Manion to literally remove Shawn from the sport of bodybuilding.
Shawn Ray is still employed by Jake Wood, working for Digital Muscle and as well commentating for the Olympia Weekend and doing other duties.
Dan Solomon sets the record straight
When asked about the Shawn Ray situation on Jay Cutler’s ‘Cutler Cast’, Dan Solomon was quick to answer and make sure everybody understood what he was saying.
Not only speaking for himself, it was evident that Dan Solomon was representing Jake Wood and the Olympia brand.
Dan Solomon admitted that he was not happy with Shawn Ray’s comments and revealed that he had a long conversation with him, but at the same time, he confirmed that he did not fire him from his position with Digital Muscle or the Olympia Weekend.
In the past, the bodybuilding media were accused that they were told what to say and when to say it, but fast forward to 2021, the bodybuilding media is a new beast.
Dan continued to explain that when he took over the job to run the Olympia Weekend, his first priority was to give total freedom of speech to the media.
Evolutionofbodybuilding.net, being one of the leaders in expressing their opinion on a number of very controversial situations, has had their share of attacks from the media and other people in the industry. But we expressed our opinions and stood by them, even when it hurt this site.
The same can be said for Shawn Ray, he expressed his opinion at the worst time and now he has to absorb all the criticism.
Dan continued to explain that he does not agree with many articles and opinions from the media, including this site, but he has never asked for somebody to be fired. Solomon believes his decision about Shawn Ray should be accepted.
Jay Cutler and Dan Solomon agreed that Shawn Ray is not liked in the bodybuilding world, but he is one of the best bodybuilding historians and he is a bodybuilding legend. Both Jay and Dan believe that there is still a place for Shawn Ray in this industry.
Dan Solomon’s comments:
“There’s been a lot of news lately, about our good friend Shawn Ray. Cutler said.” (Dan Solomon replies) “Yeah, you know it’s funny you mention the Shawn Ray thing–because it’s amazing how my phone blew up on that one. Solomon said. It seems like on some level, anything that happens it makes its way across my desk on some level and we take it all pretty seriously, we do. The Shawn thing was interesting, and it got me thinking because for starters I want to be clear about something because I know there’s folks who watch these shows and listen to these shows and they love to get those sound bites.
So I’m going to be really clear. I don’t agree with most of the things Shawn said. I want to be crystal clear about that. Shawn says things all the time that I don’t agree with. Dan Solomon said. And it got me thinking, I mean Shawn’s comments went out there and then people were reaching out to Jake Wood, who of course owns the Olympia and Muscle and Fitness and reaching out to all sorts of people, talking about the idea of firing Shawn and canceling Shawn and that was a big conversation and it still is and it got me thinking you guys will appreciate that you especially jay do.
I really work hard to provide a culture where the folks, who work for me and the folks who work throughout this industry are given the freedom to say what they have to say, even if it makes people uncomfortable at times and even if i disagree with many of the things that they say. I think we should all stop and take astep back and be very careful about asking folks to be canceled or fired, because a lot of the people who are asking for certain people to be canceled or fired are the people who they themselves are some of the most intensely questionable opinion givers out there. Solomon said.”
Chris Aceto critical of Jake Wood and Jim Manion
Leading up to the death of Shawn Rhoden, Chris Aceto has always been critical of Jim Manion and Jake Wood about their stance on Shawn Rhoden.
Immediately after winning the 2018 Mr. Olympia, Shawn Rhoden was involved in some serious issues concerning the law, which included rape charges.
Immediately after the news broke about Shawn Rhoden, former Olympia Weekend owner, David Pecker, decided to suspend Shawn Rhoden from competing at the 2019 Mr. Olympia.
Immediately after this decision was taken, Shawn Rhoden never competed with the NPC/Pro League again.
From the day Shawn Rhoden was suspended up to his death, Chris Aceto has campaigned endlessly for Shawn Rhoden’s suspension to be lifted.
Unfortunately, Shawn Rhoden never lived to compete again. Following his death, Chris Aceto has been very vocal about the decisions of Jim Manion and Jake Wood.
Aceto, has explained on many occasions that the situation has been one sided and against Shawn Rhoden.
Shawn Rhoden was basically labelled ‘guilty before proven innocent’ by the industry. Meanwhile, other competitors and major sponsors who already have charges against them, or are waiting to serve a substantial amount of jail time, are allowed to continue to compete or do business.
Chris believes that Shawn Rhoden was treated very badly and this all contributed to his death.
It will be very interesting to hear Aceto’s reaction to Dan Solomon’s decision on the matter.
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