Political commentator GlennBeckrecently slammed World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) on his show, calling not only the superstars but the fans "stupid wrestling people."
Beck’s comments have been sparked by the repackaging of Jack Swagger and his manager, Zeb Colter. Swagger and Colter play the part of racist Americans. Since Swagger’s return, the two have cut promos talking about how immigrants are stealing jobs from “real Americans” and how Colter and Swagger plan on getting them out of the country.
The devious duo is in a rivalry with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio just so happens to be Mexican hero and building a large fan base, especially among the Latino fans. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that this is a great rivalry between polar characters.
Beck went off on a rant about how WWE is lashing out at the Tea Party and depicting them in an unflattering light. Beck suggests that people who watch wrestling are not well educated or high in society.
I assume he has never heard of Donald Trump, who has been a fan of WWE for years, participated in Wrestlemania 23 and was just announced, Monday night, as an inductee into WWE Hall of Fame (class of 2013).
Beck's inflammatory comments have not gone over so well with the wrestling world. Since his uninformed statement aired, WWE has returned fire.
Rather than having D-Generation X drive a tank to his office (as they did during the war against WCW), the billion dollar company has been as diplomatic as possible in their rebuttal.
In their initial response, Swagger and Colter release a video in which they start off cutting a promo.
About a minute into the video, the two break character and address Beck. They try to explain to him that WWE is a form of entertainment, a television show which has characters, much like "NCIS" or "Glee," and like these shows, there are characters who are meant to elicit a reaction out of the audience.
Also in the video, Colter extends an invitation to Beck to appear on Monday Night RAW in front of a sold out crowd and live television audience. He is offered five minutes of unedited time to present his case regarding his words and his problem with the product. Beck declined the offer, saying, "Unfortunately I am currently booked doing anything else."
However, WWE did not stop there. The show's top commentator, Michael Cole, took a camera crew to the station in Irving, Texas where Beck was filming his show.
There, Cole was incredibly professional in his attempt to get an interview. He spoke with several people in the building asking to speak with Beck. One person confirmed that he was indeed in the building.
Cole was eventually approached by an out- of-place teenager who told Cole that he had to leave and that he could not speak to Beck.
The owner then approached Cole with members of security, telling him that he absolutely had to leave the building, and if he wanted to speak with Beck, Cole would have to get in touch with his office in New York City. The owner even told Cole that Beck was not in the building.
All of this has transpired in less than a week's time. I doubt we have even begun to see the end of this, and I anticipate that WWE will continue to pursue Beck until he responds. I expect to see Cole making a second interview attempt at Beck’s office within the week. This is most likely going to get ugly fast.
This is a golden example of a very important rule of life: don't provoke Vince McMahon. McMahon does not take insults well, especially toward a company which he built into a global empire. McMahon will most diffidently pursue Beck until he feels that he has come out on top. That’s just the way the man works.
I find this whole exchange to be extremely entertaining. Beck says he finds it disgusting how WWE is stereotyping Tea Party members, yet he himself stereotypes WWE’s audience of 14 million Americans, as well as a global audience in over 145 countries as dumb rednecks or as he puts it, “stupid wrestling people.”
It seems to me that Glenn Beck is not fully aware of what WWE is, like most people. He writes it off as “fake” yet does not consider what that entails. Every week, WWE tells a story with its characters. These characters are not very different from characters on other television shows. It is all entertainment.
Glenn Beck has expressed an opinion, which is his constitutional right. While his opinion is one fueled by passion, it is severely uninformed.
*** This editorial is an opinion stated by the writer and does not represent the views of The Rotunda or Longwood University.
