Dave Bautista reveals he once covered up a tattoo to fight homophobia: ‘I had a huge issue with it’
Actor Dave Bautista has been an LGBTQ+ ally for years (Getty)
Former MCU and WWE star Dave Bautista has revealed that he once had a tattoo removed after the friend it was dedicated to later expressed homophobic opinions.
While doing a breakdown of his (many) tattoos with GQ, Bautista explained the story behind the ink on his inner left forearm.
“This one used to be a team logo, I was part of a team of a person I considered a friend and someone I really looked up to,” he began.
“And then he later came out publicly with some anti-gay statements and turned out to be an extreme homophobe.”
Bautista continued: “I had a huge issue with it – it’s a personal issue with me, my mom’s a lesbian – and I could no longer call him a friend so I had it covered up with this.”
Fans have flooded the comment section of the original TikTok with love for the actor:
“Best wrestler turned actor. I said what I said.“
“King”.
“I loved him in Guardians and now I love him even more”.
“Dave Bautista will always have a fan in me for this”.
Bautista recently appeared in Netflix’s critically acclaimed murder-mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and has just departed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the third volume of Guardians of the Galaxy, the actor reprised his role as Drax the Destroyer, who recently visited a gay bar with Mantis in a Christmas special.
A fierce and vocal LGBTQ+ ally, he has also spoken openly about being supportive of his mother’s sexuality, previously posting a celebratory Pride Month message which read: “I was always proud of who my mom was because she was always proud of who she was.
“In your face, f**k you if you don’t like it, unapologetically loud and proud. And her son payed [sic] attention. BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE YOU. #ProudSonofaLesbian”.
In the GQ video, Dave Bautista also explained the meaning behind his Winnie the Pooh tattoo:
“I did a film called My Spy, with a little actress named Chloe Coleman, who is one of my favourite people in the world. And so we went out on the press tour, and at one outlet, we had to play True or False to see how well we knew each other.
“They asked Chloe, he said, ‘True or false? Dave Bautista has a tattoo of Winnie the Pooh.”
Bautista carried on to reveal that Chloe answered truth, but was told she was wrong. That is, until Dave went and got inked with everyone’s favourite inhabitant of the Hundred Acre Wood:
“I don’t have one, but because I love you so much, I’m going to get one. So I got a Winnie the Pooh tattoo for my little co-star Chloe Coleman.”
