Mark Henry recently spoke candidly about one of the most controversial moments of the WWE Attitude Era while reflecting on D Generation X’s parody of The Nation in 1998. Speaking with Inside The Ropes, Henry revisited the segment that saw DX mock The Nation, including Sean “X Pac” Waltman appearing in blackface to portray Henry.

According to Henry, not everyone involved was comfortable with the angle from the outset. He revealed that The Rock made his objections clear immediately, even as others tried to frame the segment as entertainment typical of the era.

“Dwayne didn’t like it from the beginning. He was like, ‘I don’t like it. I don’t like people dressing up like us. I don’t like people putting blackface on.’ He didn’t like it. But at that time, I was like, ‘Man, we’re in entertainment.’ It wasn’t bothering me.”

Henry explained that The Rock ultimately went along with the segment, despite his personal discomfort, while making his stance known to those involved.

“He was like, ‘If y’all want to do it, then we’ll do it. But I just don’t like it. I’m just letting you know.’ Dwayne never liked it. I didn’t care because I just looked at it as being part of the work, because I knew the people, and I knew they weren’t racist.”

Henry went on to describe how X-Pac only began to fully grasp the backlash weeks later, once criticism of the segment became widespread. According to Henry, Waltman initially struggled to understand why people were offended.

“X Pac didn’t know until probably like a month or two after they started taking heat. Like, ‘Man, y’all dressed up like black people and you put makeup on to look like that.’ And he was like, ‘What is the big deal? We were just playing. We were acting like our guys.’ And they were like, ‘You ever heard of a minstrel show?’”

Henry recalled having to explain the painful historical context behind minstrel imagery, something he says Waltman had never been taught.

“He was like, ‘What is that? I don’t even know what that is.’ And I explained to him what people used to do after slavery times dress up, put black on, make big red lips, and do characterizations of what they thought a Black person was. He cried.”

Henry stressed that Waltman’s reaction was one of genuine remorse once he understood the history and the harm associated with it.

“He had no idea about that history, because America doesn’t teach the nasty history. They just sweep it under the rug. And then this guy finds out that what he did was some of the worst stuff you can do to people. It hurt him.”

Henry also addressed the lasting stigma attached to the segment and how he tried to reassure Waltman while acknowledging the broader impact.

“And I told him, I said, ‘Man, look, I know who you are.’ He was like, ‘Mark, I’m not a racist.’ I said, ‘I didn’t say you were a racist. I said that that situation was deemed racist, and they’re going to fight that for the rest of their careers, for their life, because it was a little bit distasteful.’”

He admitted that outside perspectives eventually made him reconsider his own role in allowing the segment to happen, even if he felt trapped by the realities of working in wrestling at the time.

“And it took for people that I know outside of wrestling to say, ‘Man, you shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have let them do that.’ And I was like, ‘Man, what was I supposed to do? Just say I’m not going to go to work?’”

Looking back, Henry described the situation as layered and difficult, but ultimately educational for everyone involved.

“So it was complicated. And we all learned a valuable lesson from it on both sides.”