From Variety’s Michael Schneider (link courtesy Ben Schwartz)
World Wrestling Entertainment and UPN have heard from several concerned viewers following last Thursday’s “WWE Smackdown,” which depicted a terrorist-like attack involving a group of Arab-Americans and a wrestling opponent.
The episode aired the same day as the subway and bus bombings in London; UPN ran a crawl on its screen four times through the broadcast, noting that, “In light of today’s tragic events in London, parental discretion is advised in viewing this episode.”
That wasn’t enough of a warning for some viewers, who took offense at the depiction of Arab-American wrestlers Daivari and Muhammad Hassan (above right) — who was shown in the episode praying while five men wearing ski masks rushed the ring and choked the “good guy,” longtime WWE wrestler the Undertaker.
WWE and UPN said they were unable to alter the episode, due to the tight timeframe between the show’s taping earlier in the week and its Thursday night timeslot.
The Iron Sheik and Hacksaw Duggan carpool was unavailable for comment. Still, this sounds like a more even-handed depiction of Arab-Americans than most of last season’s episodes of “24”.
This episode of Smackdown! also involved Hassan telling Daivari to “sacrifice himself” for the greater good.
http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_13872.shtml
Jon
hey, that’s cool. Joe Morgan is often talking about the importance of the sacrifice.
“Several concerned viewers” sounds like a Traditional Values censor group to me. The timing of this re the London bombing sucks, but Vince once again floors me in his going for the jugular of pop culture. Forget London for a minute, because suicide bombers are killing Iraqi civilians, Iraqi cops, and US military people everyday and he still sees no problem with this plotline. He’s basically using the Hassan character as a Zarqawi and only now people are noticing?
This is hardly the first time McMahon and a writing staff that can’t-say-no have done something that not only set new standards for bad taste, but also did absolutely nothing to sell tickets. the Katie Vick / Kane, “I just fucked your brains out” sketch comes to mind, as does turning Sgt. Slaughter into a treasonous heel at the height of the first Gulf War. (though no one accused Vince of perpetuating negative stereotypes about dudes with huge chins). Where’s Del Wilkes when you really need him?