CM Punk is in a bit of hot water of some words he chose poorly at a WWE house show over the weekend. Punk used a homophobic slur which was caught on video and posted to You Tube. Thanks to TMZ.com, the story has now received national headlines.
If Punk is looking to make an impact out of his last two weeks with the WWE, mission accomplished. Punk is seen on video yelling at a fan from the WWE’s latest swing of Australia shows. Magnum CM screams at the fan, “You homo!” Hello Titan Towers…GLAAD on line 1!
I can understand some guys making this mistake but CM Punk is a smart guy who really should know better. As a matter of a fact, EVERYONE in the WWE should know better! This now marks the fourth time I can recall this year alone that the WWE has been blasted by GLAAD and various media outlets for a WWE superstar using a homophobic slur. Wait until someone gets a hold of the Degeneration-X DVD and takes a look back at those promos during the DX vs. McMahons feud.
TMZ.com watches for this kind of stuff like a hawk. TMZ reaches a lot of people and can really cause a lot of problems for you, your career, and your company if the wrong piece of video hits their website. TMZ.com senior editor Harvey Levin is gay which likely makes the website a bit more sensitive to this kind of stuff. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when this video landed on TMZ.com.
Punk issued a public apology for the slur on his Twitter account. From the choice of words used on his tweet, I am guessing that this apology came straight from him and not from a prepared WWE statement.
“I’m glad TMZ posted that video because everybody needs to be held accountable for thier bullshit, me included. What I said was bullshit….I’m embarrassed. I own up to being a total douche in this situation and I offer a sincere apology to anybody I hurt with careless words.”
The irony here is that all of these slip ups have come from guys in the middle of the top angle in the company. Cole used the slur when he was the ratings king on RAW, Cena and Rock before WrestleMania 27, and now Punk in the midst of the biggest push of his career. I do think it is just coincidence but interesting nonetheless.
I am also a guy in my late thirties that grew up on listening to heel pro wrestlers used insensitive remarks in their promos or live tirades on a weekly basis. Seeing pro wrestling heels wind up as national media stories because of something they said in their promo is rather surreal. However, there are plenty of ways to get over as a heel without using a homophobic slur. Quite frankly I always found those kinds of promos to be kind of cheap and corny anyway.
How ironic that this all happens on a week where the central theme for this Monday’s WWE RAW was the first amendment?
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