Originally published on ProWrestlingSheet.

Renowned commentator Joey Styles was fired from EVOLVE over the weekend ... and now he's issued an open letter explaining why he made such a tasteless joke during the event.

In the letter -- sent to PW Insider this morning -- Styles says, "Friday night, I panicked on camera during the live broadcast of Evolve 72 on FloSlam when I realized that heel manager, Stokely Hathaway and I would be doing our promo at ringside and not in the ring with ring announcer, Joanna Rose as I had anticipated."

Joey explains that he had originally planned to include Rose in his promo and, having to come up with something different on the spot, became flustered and made a political joke -- something he admits that Gabe Sapolsky specifically instructed him not to do.

Styles continues, saying that as a veteran, he should have walked through the segment beforehand and that Sapolsky was justifiably furious. The announcer claims that he apologized to Sapolsky after the show, and told him to fire him publicly, which he did.

Styles also mentions that he apologized to Rose, FloSlam representative Jeremy Botter and the wrestlers in the locker room ... claiming that none of those parties were upset.