The Godfather Admits He Bullied Stevie Richards

WWE Hall of Famer, The Godfather joins Chris to discuss why he bullied Stevie Richards in the WWF when he became frustrated with his Goodfather character as part of Right to Censor in WWF. The Godfather joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1992 as the character Papa Shango and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.
This is a clip from my full interview with The Godfather that will be available on my podcast INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet on Tuesday, February 1. Subscribe here: podcast.chrisvanvliet.com
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#TheGodfather #WWE #WWFAttitudeEra #StevieRichards

[@1985nyg]

Stevie (Mike) is a really good guy. Without getting into a lot of detail, I emailed him about his fitness program years ago as a total stranger when I was going through some really bad health stuff and he emailed me back immediately. He kept in touch on his own and still emails me two or three times a year to check in on me. Really great guy.

[@phillysfinest215]

Fagg

[@craigwilson3532]

Wow. I already thought he was a good guy from his interviews but that confirms it. What a good human being. I enjoy his shoot interviews

[@MattWiggyWiggins]

He actually messaged me randomly one day out of nowhere a few years ago on FB under his real name about a workout program I had. We traded a few messages before I realized who he was and I was stunned. We've talked on the phone multiple times and he's checked on me the same way. I won't get into details, but he did a favor for a buddy of mine's son he did NOT have to do, and he went above & beyond to do it. He is one of coolest, classiest, sweetest, well-meaning, good guys you could ever hope to mean. Just a great person.

[@tylermcnally8232]

Mike? What did that gain

[@gregdufour3955]

Haha kayfabe

[@charleswilson4526]

He said in a past interview that he didn’t care for Stevie Richards. Stevie seems like a hell of a nice guy though

[@FaysalIsGoated]

Right?

[@bobsucks9647]

That’s probably why he got bullied unfortunately. If you were successful in wwe back then it’s usually because you were an insecure bully pos, if you were a decent person they’d put you through hell

[@davidworkman208]

@@FaysalIsGoated to censor?

[@MichaeldeFilippi]

lol he's a dick but Steven Richards was awesome

[@eazye088]

Some people just don't care for the people they work with and that's fine.

[@anw568]

How cruel and disgusting do you have to be to bully a wonderful guy like Stevie

[@EnjoySackLunch]

lol relax

[@JGD185]

That's fked up he bullied Stevie

[@tcity6334]

Stevie is a great guy, and also an example of why being a nice guy often does not pay off :(

[@savagecatgt]

It pays off at the real end though. This isn't all there is.

[@sic6664]

​@@savagecatgtYes it is.

[@StrongStyleShooter]

@@sic6664no he’s doing well on KZbin now and gathering a lot of attention

[@toshoshi1551]

@@sic6664lmao good luck 👍

[@soanywayistartedblastin8463]

​@@sic6664no, it isn't. Projecting

[@teasipper881]

Takes honest person to admit that they weren't holding themselves accountable. Takes a braver person to be able to admit that they cause the problem. He has my respect for that One more than he already did

[@user-gq2xo4oj7p]

And say all of it with a smile on their face?

[@thenextlevel112]

"Im not bully "😂😂 right honest person and fake loser

[@solidsnakemgs2180]

MF ain’t honest he just admits it but na he ain’t an honest dude

[@sparkywilson1405]

"(Laughing) I'm not a bully" Sure, REAL honest. This is a half apology at best.

[@koffinradio]

I met him twice at conventions. Was chill to me and my friends. And he is still a big ol dude in real life. Def wouldnt wanna be on his bad side.

[@jamaali2358]

"I truly believe Stevie bullied Stevie and he can look in the mirror and know that."- Vince Mcmahon

[@CheapHeatProductionsPodcast]

We were the “I heard in another interview “

[@davidrichardohara]

When he giggles as he admits his behavior, I don't know if he's all that accountable.

[@joel2628]

You know, I hated the character Stevie was given. But the dude took bumps for us. I've seen his videos, and he seems like a cool guy. I think Charles legit feels bad for the way he treated an all-around great guy - which, to me, says that he is not a bad dude himself. Stevie was an amazing heel. Guy could draw a plethora of emotion from the crowd, and I think he could have done well as a face. Apologize to Stevie. If he's as cool a dude as I've seen on his YT channel, chances are he forgave Charles a long time ago. He simply does not strike me as a guy who will hold grudges.

[@josecano9210]

And Stevie paid his dues as well hell his voice got messed up bc of a nasty bump he took from Terry Funk in ECW he didn’t always have a scratchy voice and on top of all the other stuff he did, severely underrated and under appreciated guy

[@WorthlessDeadEnd]

I hated the whole Right to Censor gimmick, too. I hated his short hair and Mormon clothes. Stevie was an ECW alum. But I understand why he went in that direction. Gone were the days of women revealing their boobs at the pay-per-views. WWE were moving into a newer, family-friendly era.

[@andrewthatcher1]

You would imagine if he was genuine he would reach out to Stevie.

[@beanomac3126]

That's what I'm saying, first he tried saying that he wasn't bullying but admitted to bullying him. Then when Chris offered a facetime Godfather seemed to get real uncomfortable. Plus I find it a tad bit difficult to believe that they hadn't run into each other since both guys were around for a little while. Even if that is the case though, I'm sure they both have social media. So I hope godfather at some point at least sent a dm to Stevie.

[@ARM2314-]

Stevie Richards is a great guy! Honest and trust worhty. Great talent

[@craigwilson3532]

I'm sad to hear that, Stevie seems like such a great guy. I'm glad he's sorry for it

[@jasonlorphotofilms]

That's what happens when you let your emotions and anger get the best of you. You end up hurting everyone around you.

[@MegaMarvelMashup]

He’s proud of it

[@shanestephens4728]

I really don’t mean to plug anyone else’s show here but there’s a June 2022 interview out with Stevie and a certain French Tickler where Stevie really comes off as a wonderful human being and I truly hope him and Godfather have worked out any issues they had in the past. Life’s just too damn short to hold grudges or make enemies. I’m very grateful to have neither of those today, Chris.

[@garethcullen9604]

Who or what is a French tickler lol 😂

[@Brian-hd8jb]

@@garethcullen9604 does this also mean u don’t know who fifi is?!?!!??!!??

[@codesm96]

@@garethcullen9604 Rene Dupree aka The French Phenom and member of La Resistance!

[@bashcrash9148]

I love Adam Shandler and Stevie Ray.

[@TheBushRanger.]

Only bully’s say they are not a bully.

[@TheMikeAnthon]

At least he's honest. A lot of wrestlers who were bullies try to gaslight everyone. Just be real and own up to it. It was the past anyway.

[@twerktospec]

hes literally gas lighting. "Im not a bully but, I bullied him..."

[@GangmakerZaken]

Sounds like he doesn't regret it one bit

[@jeepernj99]

He’s not a bully 🙄🤦‍♂️

[@MrMisanthrope84]

Aww, I feel bad for Stevie. He seems like the coolest guy in wrestling.

[@octasian]

What, he didn’t like being in the Right-To-Censor? I liked them.

[@darylhall2198]

they were great but i think he didnt like that his pimp gimmick went away

[@ctt4lfecw]

Lol called him Stevie Ray

[@MichaeldeFilippi]

RTC was one of the greatest gimmicks ever!!! Much better than the stale Pimp crap.

[@pandavelli8176]

I picked on a guy really bad at work when I was younger. I was brutal on the guy. I used to make excuses for why I did it, but eventually I had to admit I was just a miserable dickhead bully at the time. I’m awful ashamed of it now. If I ever see him again I’m going to run up to him and apologize, even though I’m embarrassed by how I acted.

[@stevefidler6802]

"im not a bully". no dude, you are a bully

[@HawaiiFoodAndFun]

A bully who was "accepted"

[@jarrasmith1]

I met Godfather, at a local bar, after the matches. He was a complete prick. I’ll just leave that there.

[@KillingSpreeXLWDGNG]

I met Godfather at a local bar after the matches. Some weird sweaty guy named Justin kept yelling about how Godfather doesn't do enough superkicks or 360 splashes off the top rope. Justin was a complete neckbeard. I'll just leave that there.

[@bassacoustic1549]

I met him in Las Vegas in 2013 and he was really cool with me. Perhaps he mellowed in retired life. Owning a strip club may have helped to lift his mood as well 😂 We actually spoke about the RTC angle that day. He really did hate it.

[@Eagles2020]

@@KillingSpreeXLWDGNG projecting much?

[@Mamashmeeky]

Met him at a local show, and he signed my IC title, took a pic with my friend and I free of charge, and he was like “Come on in” and wrapped his arms around us as he was in the middle, and he just had the biggest grin. Genuinely a very chill and happy guy by the looks of things.

[@theonetheonlyjoey]

@@KillingSpreeXLWDGNG really weird comment man

[@cw9515]

Stevie Richards has a popular channel on KZbin I wonder if he’ll respond to this

[@Lucas-cv9up]

What's the channel called?

[@springer90]

The Goodbully

[@VegetaAlex]

That stage!

[@JCWLA86]

I guessing you didn't take the offer for a ho train, cause this interview wouldn't exist if you did lol

[@CVVCLIPS]

Lol 😂

[@winlosetiertd9371]

Takes a real man to be honest about his faults but as the man he seems to be Steve deserves a face to face or phone call.

[@00pugsly48]

It doesn’t, it takes a normal human being to be honest about faults

[@EmmettXIV]

He'll show you, you'll see

[@austin_316]

"Cancel Godfather" is coming soon LOL

[@FaysalIsGoated]

Only a bunch of idiot kids with nothing to do with their lives are gonna start doing that lmao 😂

[@cuzzisaidso6220]

I always hated this version of the Stevie Richards the right to censor version but when you look at his career and all this stuff he's done that's only a small blemish on his career

[@juanresto6756]

Nah, he was fantastic at his role.

[@darylhall2198]

godfather was ok but he sucked in the ring.....richards would have been a better candidate for the IC title

[@TheJSexton24]

It’s fake you Mark

[@darylhall2198]

@@TheJSexton24 people wrestling in the ring is an illusion now? please tell me how it works mr copperfield

[@TheJSexton24]

@@darylhall2198 please explain to me how he sucked in the ring if he got over

[@darylhall2198]

@@TheJSexton24 how old are you? 13? he got over because of his pimp character and his ho train....nobody remembers him being in any good matches except prior to that when he was Kama

[@TheEWFX29]

@@darylhall2198 As long as he got over that's the name of the game. I would rather be Hulk Hogan than Dean Malenko. Nobody cares about how well they did in the ring. They care if they were entertained, however it happened.

[@zealousjay1993]

I know it's old but It's hard to respect dudes like godfather.... like y'all both in the same boat ... both of y'all work under somebody ...Steve didn't make that call .... but instead ... you wanna take it out on Him ...why not bring that energy to the one who put you in that position?? Some people aren't stand up enough ..

[@geedee1264]

He sounds like he doesn't really give a shig

[@codesm96]

You are right about everything he did at that time and it was wrong, not something a good person would do. One thing I will say to Godfather's credit is that unlike a lot of people who pretend this never happened and act like they're good people, he was actually upfront and honest about what he did wrong, he apologized for it and knew it wasn't right the way he treated him. Many people don't apologize for the bad things they have done to people and pretend to sweep it under the carpet, some go as far as to deny it ever happened when pressed about it. Those are truly bad people who refuse to learn the error of their ways but I admit, people can change and in some cases they can for the better. Godfather can't change the way he treated him in the past but owning up to it and apologizing for it and understanding how bad it was to be on the receiving end is one of the best things he can do to move on from the situation as a better person. All he needs to do is get in touch, talk with Stevie and hash it out and make sure he treats everyone he comes across with respect going forward and that's a great lesson learned and a person who did bad things who truly made up for it later is a better person than one who doesn't even care to try.

[@Fektthis]

You can tell he was hating the GoodFather and RTC but that was on VKM and no one else. He knew he got moved down the card despite the Godfather gimmick still getting pops. No one in that group were there by choice. It was VKM pissing and moaning about network standards and practices and them not being happy about seeing geriatric give birth to hands or Katie Vicks corpse being violated or w/e other stupid thing he thought was funny.

[@anthonyfaucy2761]

Vince is a nasty monster and its all coming to light just how evil he is

[@davidroseman4917]

He sounds like Flair

[@phillysfinest215]

Then u were a bully 😂

[@priestfan81]

The more you learn about Stevie, it seems he was too good a person for the wrestling business.

[@luismagana9784]

Stevie is cool af bruh

[@buried2getover499]

Wow what a "great" guy

[@Mr.HootieHooRDK]

Lol 🤣

[@thoughtstorn854]

Is this a new interview? 🤔

[@CVVCLIPS]

It is!

[@hosepipe]

He had great size and was buddies with the biggest Mark in wrestling yet he was always a job guy. Tell you all you need to know about him

[@darylhall2198]

?

[@JUnior-ot1xu]

@@darylhall2198 what part of it didn’t u understand

[@darylhall2198]

@@JUnior-ot1xu whos he talking about? lol

[@stephenjones1488]

What? Godfather was not always a job guy lol. He got a good push as Papa Shango and Kama tbh, and got over pretty damn big as the Godfather..and collected a paycheck from the biggest company in the business for over a decade. I'd say he did ok for himself.

[@leonlegend]

@@darylhall2198 Biggest Mark = The Undertaker

[@chadbarris57]

Wow I used to like the Godfather. sounds like another wrestling POS

[@selfiekroos1777]

HBGay and Preparation H were the real bullies.

[@mitchellandrews1015]

Lot of these guys are bad characters. Brag about picking fights with people smaller than them yet they back down to a real man. Godfather isn’t alone, undertaker is same, he would pick on kids in the locker room then shit his pants when Hbk or Nash came in, mark Henry bully, Jbl bully, lot of ass hole chickens.

[@killakalikid]

Undertaker shitting his pants when HBK or Nash enters the room?? Damn how strong is that crack you're smoking??

[@mitchellandrews1015]

@@killakalikid he just admitted it what are you talking about.

[@AcesPlace22]

Everyone shittin on Charles... this was one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He's even become a personal acquaintance.

[@shanestephens4728]

No one would have the guts to say any of that to his face. #BSK I have mad respect for both Stevie and Godfather but if Godfather truly feels bad about it, I just hope he’s at least tried to reach out to Stevie to make things right. Just my worthless opinion. 🤙🏼

[@TukwilaRed1974]

He says “I’m not a bully” before telling us he bulled someone. He’s not only a bully, he’s a liar.

[@slushyglue9167]

The carny shitter could've at least apologized or express any remorse at all really while he had the platform but nope.

[@k.m.k-ultrafanpage4kottonm243]

Lol

[@freshjuice457]

I hope this does not get him cancelled in 2040 or something!

[@Wwesvr11bestprojects]

I hope he at least stood up to the godfather. Bully can be helpful to get better at overcoming odds but still the godfather is a piece of shit

[@forgottenmma3694]

Stevie is a great guy. Godfather just picks on nice guys like w coward

[@afranks8566]

Yea, but at least he's owning up to it here. A lot of guys wouldn't do that. JBL probably wouldn't do that. I think most of us have times where we act unfavorably towards someone who most likely didn't deserve and we look back and go "wow I was kind of a dick" or "maybe I could've handled that better". It's all part of the human condition. Hopefully he and Stevie are cool now.

[@DarkCloud3000]

@@afranks8566 JBL did do that though.

[@afranks8566]

@@DarkCloud3000 when and to who?

[@DarkCloud3000]

@@afranks8566 Blue Meanie.

[@BrandNew777]

Owning up by laughing at Stevie, aka bullying him again? OK

[@SCWPhillySports]

Try and Bully a tough guy. You aren’t a bad ass because you pick on small guys. I saw this guy fight in the brawl 4 all. He can’t fight.

[@daschwah]

One positive about the corpo TKO era: no more mindless bullying and sabotaging guys’ careers due to backstage posturing and insecurity.

[@TheHannibalTV]

🤣

[@tylerrollins5295]

Shit he was the godfather lol bullying Stevie was justice

[@kuma1388]

Stevie Ray???

[@rigsby1454]

Taker and all that lot were just jumped up bullies

[@RuinNationGaming]

yawn i doubt it

[@MegaMarvelMashup]

You where definitely a bully

[@user-gq2xo4oj7p]

Saying all that with a smile on his face. What an absolute bastard

[@ganglabesh]

adam SHANdler

[@Tizzo1982]

Everyone coming down on The Godfather, but you know what? Everyone goes through a period where they're not an angel. Where they make mistakes. But as a person, he learned from it and owned up to it here publicly. Should own up to it to Stevie? Yeah, but I believe when he's ready, in due time. Dont none of yall stand here acting all perfect like you never done ficked up before.

[@anguskerr7665]

Blackie in a bad place.

[@iamtamashii4184]

Blackie?

[@anguskerr7665]

@@iamtamashii4184A dark skinned man admitted he gave another man a hard time because of his own personal issues ISNT okay.

[@yumad9830]

JBL must be Whitie then

[@anguskerr7665]

@@yumad9830 Or obnoxious Texan Whitie who likes Money.