Jesus you can’t be dense enough not to think a regular anti semitic angle might be a tad more offensive when they just bombed the country and kidnapped women and children and beheaded babies?
The real world is a little more important that pro wrestling with 800k fans tuning in.
Running the Hassan angle when they did cost WWE as well. Timing matters since the real world (to most people) matters.
I don’t disagree with you here, in fact, I entirely agree. You can’t win for losing and you’ll never win when people are actively looking for things to be offended by.
At the same token, and while not being actively involved in storylines and knowledgeable of the PPV schedule, I can think of a couple of ways to change the timeline of the story depending on how real-world events play out. Course corrections and finding another timing or path to the same story is entirely possible. Wrestling is fake and you can do anything.
Like, the timing might not ever be “right” but it could be “better,” which I don’t think is a controversial statement.
And Americans being upset about the image of the World Trade Center in a television show a decade after a terrorist attack on American soil (with no thought to the perpetual war the US has engaged within the Middle East for decades and glorified after 9-11) doesn’t surprise me: There are plenty of people in the South still upset by the outcome of the Civil War. Somehow. LOL.
As a positive aside: my hats off to MJF for using his platform and celebrity to try and help awareness to try ending a multi-century-long campaign of hate: a campaign that’s re-exploded after building significant momentum in recent times.
Do you watch the news orrrr?
Offensive to people actually affected by whats going on? Sure, they have every right to feel how they want.
Others? Youre not going to convince me that it isnt fake outrage.
Because I’ve never been in a situation before where people I knew were scared for their lives, and then my escape from this crap decides to use it to fuel a storyline.
If you like this, enjoy it. I really don’t care. It’s not for me though. Big difference between “people wanting to be offended by everything” and a person just not wanting to see this right now. I feel I have a right to not watch. Again, I’m not lobbying for the show to get cancelled here.
Not everything is outrage though. look I’m not Jewish.
I have lots of Jewish friends that are deeply effected by this.
On top of this with social media you have lots of protests around cities and online basically saying these attacks are justified.
Turning on my Tv to see a basic racist angle and group isn’t what I need more of. I have enough.
Do I want them cancelled over this? Of course not. But if it continues I won’t be wasting my time watching something like this. If I wanted to see that I would just turn on Twitter
If there are people you know personally that were affected, you have the right to be upset.
This nuance should be noted. There are disingenuous agents (virtue ethicists) who are searching for things to be outraged and upset about, while there are others who are generally upset because of a connection to their world. Both can and do exist.
And place the emphasis on “right now.” Another time, it flies. After all, wasn’t MJF’s promo work and story with Punk highly-regarded, including the promo where he introduced the quarter’s story…
This is exactly what I am talking about.
For the record, I’m not even “upset”, I just don’t want to see it right now.
Yeah for sure. If you want to cancel them over this that’s a bit much. But also not wanting to see this and watch it isn’t asking too muncher.
Yeah, like I think you’re mistaking, perhaps most of us are seeing it, which is not genuine, outrage and wanting him to be cancelled versus just not wanting to see this.
Think about a movie that has a very strong rape scene. I have not personally been the victim of rape and I’m not outraged by the fact that they’re doing this and want them canceled. But it isn’t something I necessarily want to devote my entertainment watching hours too. Like I get enough of this in my real life. So may not choose to watch that kind of TV show or movie, same thing here
Yes that definitely exists, I don’t disagree with you here.
And unfortunately those agents muddy the waters for those like yourself who have a direct connection to the real-world hate-fuelled atrocities affecting your life and your world.
Nothing but the best of wishes for you and those in your world directly affected by the current real-world events.
If nothing else, there’s something off optically about doing this on the night where the conversation is about pulling out all of the stops for ratings.
But if we give them the benefit of the doubt that that part is a coincidence, then it’s fine if that’s what they want to do with their world champion. Worked fine for Hogan and Slaughter in 1991 
.
Agreed about the timing…but
This is going into a territory that we haven’t really seen in a long time. In the past, the minority group is the heel. Here the babyface that is being marginalized/discriminated against has the opportunity for his comeuppance.
If this offensive Juice promo results in all the things Max mentioned, then isn’t it worth it? (some may argue it’s not, but I’m willing to be open to the possibility). And the upside to doing something like this is AEW taking a creative risk… something that I hope we can give some grace for. Because it doesn’t happen too often.
Also - who is watching this TV show that has no knowledge of kayfabe in 2023? I wager not many. So if that is so, then most of the offense is a projection on behalf of others. Because, I’d imagine most would be clued in that MJF is Jewish, the most over babyface, and is going to actually whoop Juice’s ass.
Let me ask another question — was HHH being racist to Booker T fucked up? Totally. But I think the most fucked up part was Booker losing. If he won, the conversation would have been very different. It might have been one of the best payoffs.
I’m going to use the Stanislavski method here… “if i were”
So as someone who is brown.
If Mustafa Ali had a high profile storyline where chickenshit heel made an offensive joke about brown people, and the heel got booed… and Ali ended up whooping that heel’s ass… what is the overarching story? Racists suck. Good beats evil? That’s what I take from it…it’s short sighted to focus on the curry joke without further context.
People have different sensitivities. Yes. It’s a calculated risk. But what bothers me is if the conversation coming from the promo is that “This is offensive” by people who aren’t Jewish wrestling fans speaking for Jewish wrestling fans. And if that is the takeaway from the story when it’s all said and done, even if it is told very well, then that’s a shame. Like there’s a possibility that the outrage is being manifested far beyond the scope that it should be by people that are operating on good intentions, but are magnifying something while ignoring the greater context.
This.
I saw the exact comparison to that angle today.
Wrestling fans have become accustomed to expecting the worst. Especially when it comes to anything that should be treated with somewhat nuance and delicately.
If the BCG end up destroying MJF to pay all this off, then it’s a very different conversation. That’s clearly not what’s going to happen.
Wrestling is different; it just is.
Jericho and the Brazilian flag, JBL and the goose step. These are characters played by performers but the neverending narrative cycle prevents closure. This lack of closure prevents it being a like for like comparison to scripted television shows or films. The narrative distance allows for more controversial topics to be considered.
Moreover, Wrestling is often a live performance. As such, it’s always in its time and of its time and this immediacy brings additional responsibilities. Let alone the blurring of the lines between character and performer - something that AEW is even more fond of than WWE.
It shouldn’t have happened; not this week.
Improvised acts in the ring for a live audience are not the same thing, not sure why you’re trying to compare them to a scripted promo segment with storyline implications.
