So what have we learned this week? Well, for one thing,
wrestlers need to be pretty damn careful about their Twitter accounts. No doubt
internet fans already know about the Seth Rollins scandal, which I’ll talk
about next week. But another WWE star made social media headlines this week,
regarding an issue I’d say is a little more important than dirty pictures…
In regard to WWE running live events in Abu Dhabi this week,
Darren Young, whose real name is Fred Rosser tweeted the following via
@DarrenYoungWWE on Tuesday…
“Why do we bring the best entertainment to a country like
abu dhabi and they look down upon women and gays? I get it! #MillionsofDollars”
(sic)
The post was subsequently taken down, obviously at WWE’s
insistence. But Rosser was far from silenced, as he would go on to tweet the
following…
- “My freedom of speech is gone. Gone but not forgotten.”
- “I feel like no one has my back and it upsets me. The
struggle is real. I’m human.”
That evening, WWE put out a statement relating to Rosser’s
posts. It said that while WWE supports him for being open about his sexuality,
“WWE cannot change cultures and laws around the world, and
thus we did not send Fred Rosser to the United Arab Emirates for our upcoming
events for his own protection.”
The release concluded with: “WWE also
fully supports Fred Rosser’s right to express his views on personal social
media accounts rather than WWE’s corporate platforms.”
Before I dive into the nitty gritty on this, let me say for
the record that I do not, under any circumstances, support the suppression or
abuse of women or homosexuals. Hopefully that falls under the common sense
category for most people reading this. With that in mind, let’s continue…
In the statement, WWE refers to the @DarrenYoungWWE Twitter
account as a corporate platform. But is it? Presumably the only one who uses it
is Rosser himself, and if you follow any WWE star on Twitter, you know they
constantly use that platform to offer peeks into their lives beyond the ring.
Case in point, this week Ryback posted a video of him at a fast food drive-thru
(for whatever reason). Renee Young seemed to feel fairly comfortable chiming in
on the Grammys this past Sunday. And for those of you wondering what Dolph
Ziggler was reading on the plane ride to Abu Dhabu, he was kind enough to show
you. So are these Twitter accounts really corporate
platforms?
Well, sort of…
There’s a reason WWE repackages all the talent that comes
in. As Bubba Ray Dudley once put it: “Vince McMahon has to make you in his own
image.” That’s why Ryan Reeves became Ryback, Renee Paquette became Renee
Young, Nick Nemeth became Dolph Ziggler, and Fred Rosser became Darren Young.
When the name you use on social media is the intellectual property of a big
corporation like WWE, they’re naturally going to want to make sure their
company isn’t associated with speech they don’t like. Especially when the
handle is something like @DarrenYoungWWE. WWE literally owns every word in that
name.
So while Fred Rosser has every right to feel the way he
feels about WWE going to Abu Dhabi, my question to him would be: “What did you
think was going to happen?” On February 10, Fred Rosser was a WWE wrestler,
using a Twitter handle named after his WWE character, publicly questioning the
integrity of WWE. In what world does that work out in his favor?
In terms of wrestlers being allowed to say anything they
want on “personal social media accounts,” one can argue that a @FredRosser
account wouldn’t draw nearly as many eyes as the @DarrenYoungWWE account. Thus,
the purpose of making such a statement is almost negated. But that’s sort of
the deal you strike when you owe literally all of your fame to the company
you’re criticizing.
But I’ll say it again, Rosser has every right to feel the
way he feels. And he’s not wrong. In an era where WWE fights so hard to be
politically correct and image conscious, they’re still willing to perform in a
country where women and homosexuals are subjugated. What does that say to the
women and homosexuals that watch WWE regularly? How about some of those
families they’re trying to hard to win over?
I don’t have a good answer to those questions. In truth,
“Bell to Bell” isn’t written to pass judgment on cultures or religions. I’m
here to talk about professional wrestling. But what I will say is at the end of
the day, WWE is a dollars and cents business, for better or worse…
I’ll conclude with this: Fred Rosser, while you might not
have picked the right “platform” to vent your frustrations, at the end of the
day I do have your back.” No one
should have to feel cast out or isolated because of who they are inside. As you
wrote, the struggle is real. And I respect you, and anyone else who is forced
to endure it.
Written by: The Fanboy Wonder, Rob Siebert
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