First AW, now Tensai!?

[Poop Master Flex]

once again i agree with you but my problem is wwe seem to pick and choose whats ok to make fun of and what isnt personally i dont care either i can tell when somethings just meant in fun but the problem is no one has the right to say when the line has bin crossed because everyone is different and has differant opinions one man may laugh his head off at somthing but at the same time somewhere another guy will be real upset/offended or whatever even when wwe was attitude and stuff the humour was almost comic like adult but in a light hearted way there wasnt any malice in it and there isnt now peeps should lighten up a bit and not take a pro wrestling show so bloody seriously lol

Believe me no one more than me understands that people need to not take anything they see on television (wrestling included) so seriously and get their panties in a bunch every time something is said they don't agree with.

I also agree that to an extent WWE picks and chooses what lines are OK and which lines aren't OK. In the Attitude era they had a completely different image so going down avenues such as making racist jokes and Linda being a vegetable was ok (or got forbid necrophilia) but even today they still do that. It's OK to make fun of JR's Bell's Palsy, say he isn't there for anal bleeding or making fun of Mickie Jame's weight but other things aren't. Then again things such as racism and rape jokes are a little more taboo in society than things like Mickie James' weight so they have to be a little more careful about sensitive subjects (like the whole Muhammed Hassan/Taker angle the day after the London bombings). I don't agree with it, but I see where they are coming from. Sadly society dictates what is OK and what isn't OK so if society thinks a racist joke isn't OK WWE has to do what is necessary regardless if they want to or not.

HHH once got hammered down on hard for something Vince gave his permission for (the famous curtain call incident) but people got upset so he had to punish someone for it and sadly that person was HHH. According to HHH if he didn't have such a high standing in the company at the time he would have been shit canned. It's sad but its how it works. Sometimes its hard eating shit and calling it ice cream but in a business world you have to do it sometimes or you simply won't last.

 

[justinsayne]

*sigh* Why does anyone even fucking care? Tensai, who has been fucking awful btw, made a really stupid fucking joke that offended some, WWE made him issue an apology. Done, end of story, move the fuck on. I see nothing in this that really warrents any debate, WWE is a PG show & a large portion of their audience is made up of children, you can't have your talent making racists jokes where young fans (or more importantly their parents) are going to hear them, or you're going to end up in the middle of a bad press storm. Their is nothing to discuss here, Tensai & AW fucked up, & WWE made both issue pubic apologies as they should.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I'm sorry but isn't his CHARACTER supposed to be this kind of guy? And he said open your eyes. It couldn't have been looked at is if he were driving? I get the joke, and didn't feel it was in bad taste. That's like saying old people can't drive or they drive slow. Hypocritical WWE once again. Lawler made an even worse comment on Raw, and how many times has WWE done things that's even worse than this? Was Slick as a "slick talking black pimp" not offense? Wasn't he JUST ON Raw the other week, as, you guessed it, a somewhat used up slick talking pimp. What about The Godfather? Hos? Really? Even though that was incredibly over and funny.

Vince needs to get off his meds because they're missing with his brain. Stereotypes have always been in wrestling and offensive jokes too. This is why WWE IS the joke. Because it can't even police right. On one hand you don't fire a guy for a clear Wellness Policy Violation, no matter who the hell he is, and yet you punish a guy because he said open your eyes? Are you kidding me? I'm sure this will never go beyond this forum but this is why I never rush home anymore to watch wrestling. I think I've outgrown the nonsense.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

thing is that wwe may still advertise been pg but a year or so ago they wouldnt even say ass on tv the simpsons is pg aswell and they say much worse

Former Executive Producer & Showrunner for The Simpsons, Mike Scully, had to issue an apology through the L.A. Times for a joke that was racially insensitive towards Asians. They also landed in hot water for their depictions of Brazil & who else? Australia! In fact, most producers of the show don't dare pick on anyone but the Irish... just in case you were curious about the truth of your argument.

We've all heard worse things than what they've been saying on WWE, but no one should be stupid enough to believe that's acceptable for a PG rating. Children don't need to repeat what Tensai said amongst themselves, not with the shit a school can get into for creating "hostile learning environments."

It's not even a legit debate, it's like, "duuuuhhhh....."

 

[thebowtiekiller]

Believe me no one more than me understands that people need to not take anything they see on television (wrestling included) so seriously and get their panties in a bunch every time something is said they don't agree with.

I also agree that to an extent WWE picks and chooses what lines are OK and which lines aren't OK. In the Attitude era they had a completely different image so going down avenues such as making racist jokes and Linda being a vegetable was ok (or got forbid necrophilia) but even today they still do that. It's OK to make fun of JR's Bell's Palsy, say he isn't there for anal bleeding or making fun of Mickie Jame's weight but other things aren't. Then again things such as racism and rape jokes are a little more taboo in society than things like Mickie James' weight so they have to be a little more careful about sensitive subjects (like the whole Muhammed Hassan/Taker angle the day after the London bombings). I don't agree with it, but I see where they are coming from. Sadly society dictates what is OK and what isn't OK so if society thinks a racist joke isn't OK WWE has to do what is necessary regardless if they want to or not.

HHH once got hammered down on hard for something Vince gave his permission for (the famous curtain call incident) but people got upset so he had to punish someone for it and sadly that person was HHH. According to HHH if he didn't have such a high standing in the company at the time he would have been shit canned. It's sad but its how it works. Sometimes its hard eating shit and calling it ice cream but in a business world you have to do it sometimes or you simply won't last.[/QUOTE

yeah it just kind of sucks tho before vince would not change his show for anything if someone complained or kicked off wwe would politley tell them to piss off but now vince has pretty much joined a differant kiss my ass club to all these overly p.c idiots

wwe in my opinion has grown too big for itself its still a pro wrestling show tho and i think it should remember that occasionally its all about the MUNNAY though i guess but yeh if anything i would rather not see anymore necrophillia storylines lol

 

[Starchild]

Further proof of the *****fication of America. We no longer have the right to free speech because everything has to be "politically correct" else we offend someone and cause a lawsuit.

People need to not be so uptight and easily offended, that is the basis of this entire problem. Who the fuck cares...EVERYONE gets made fun of, it's just a way of life. Learn to live with it and not let it bother you and people would be much better for it in the end.

Since it did offend some of the sensitive bunch, there were apologies issued, time to move on. I long for the days when heels could say what they want to draw heat and it worked, this is just idiotic on many levels. I understand it's a PG show, but the kids have no fucking idea what A.W. was even talking about and most probably didn't even see Tensai's. You want to talk about a bigger issue...how about WWE's anti-bullying campaign that they promote so much and the fact that Tensai is a bully to Sakamoto who is basically his bitch...there's something to address to fit with the image WWE wants.

 

[Rayne]

Further proof of the *****fication of America. We no longer have the right to free speech because everything has to be "politically correct" else we offend someone and cause a lawsuit.

You have every bit of right to free speech that you have always had in the United States of America. "Freedom of Speech" is a concept which says that you have the right to speak your opinion. It has never been a concept which states that you have the right to speak your opinion, and avoid all of the negative consequences of doing that.

If you want to start crying about "free speech", start defending the people that tell you they don't like what you have to say. Most cries for "free speech" on this board usually translate to "don't speak about my speaking". If someone wishes to criticize AW and Tensai for their off-color jokes, they have the right to do that. They have the right to use their speech in order to influence people, just as you have that right.

 

[Arcade]

Things are way too "political correct" nowadays. It's hard to say anything without offending someone, and because of that, the product has to suffer. I doubt that most people seen Tensai's tout because most of the fans don't care about him. The rating for WWE is TV PG, but PG isn't the most family friendly rating. Some edgy stuff cab still happen within the PG rating. WWE isn't TV G or TV Y7.

 

[DirtyD79]

Between these two incidents and Chris Jericho's monkeyshines in Brazil you gotta wonder just how the hell are heels supposed to get heat anymore? Some people might think it's offensive? DUH!!! That's kinda the point of being a heel. A heel is supposed to be offensive and do things that piss people off. It's what's supposed to make you want to see the babyfaces finally beat their asses back in line.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again Pro wrestling is, never was, and never will be politically correct. Pro wrestling is not supposed to be family entertainment. The whole show has always revolved around people beating the crap out of each other to get what they want or solve their problems.

 

[rasslin]

Jesus Christ, people. They advertise themselves as a family friendly show, making racist jokes is not family friendly. What the fuck are you people thinking? If they changed their format to being an adult oriented show like they used to be, they'd have nothing to apologize for. They haven't, so they do.

So when did they issue an apology for Vince making Bell's palsy jokes?? Did I miss the thousands of apologies they must have sent on Jerry Lawler's behalf?

 

[TheLoneCharles]

I think he was probably picking on the tendency of Japanese people having squinty eyes. But yes, everyone's a terrible driver, not just women and Asians. Like Nate said: That's a no-no for a show with younger viewers (no matter how unnecessary Tout is).

Does "Squintamoto" or the "PrimeTime Rapists" (though Titus O'Neil barks like a rapist, for sure) sound like things that belong on WWE Television? Take your time to think about it... *cue Jeopardy music*


Neither one of you need to worry yourselves about drawing lines...

Ever since they've started promoting "Be A Star" I've heard people going on and on and on (and on still) about how they showcase "bullying" on a weekly basis. Do people want all the performers to start holding hands or something? Be A Star is a disclaimer.

They tell you "Don't try this at home" too, so should they stop performing wrestling maneuvers on TV? No more Be A Star crap, people.

I don't know how to do all the seperate quotes some of you can do on here, I guess I still have more to learn about computers.

Anyhow, you only reinforced my entire point. It's apparently ok to pick on the appearance of stroke victims, overweight women, and Daniel Bryan's face just to name a few...yet there's an uproar about something "perceived" as predjudice. I know I'm repeating some other excellent points prior posters have made on here, but there is clearly a double standard and an extremely thin line between what is acceptable and what isn't.

Like I said in my original post I understand why AW and Tensai are in the doghouse. But at the same time, why is it only ok to pick on white people and throw a hissy fit if an asian is being made fun of? The rape joke was just dumb and flew over the heads of 90% of the crowd until Cole made a public announcement. If anything, I was still laughing at AW throwing a shoe at Kofi and yelling "yo mama!"

Whole thing just screams of reverse discrimination to me, particularly with the Tensai thing because it was rather tame. Personally I found it all entertaining but I have a peverse/laid back sense of humor. The hypocrisy of all of this startles me. Don't even get into the "it's a PG show" nonsense with me, because would someone of PG age understand what 'suck it' means?

 

[Kliq69]

Or hell, if we're onto race ; what about all the comments about Sheamus needing sun like white people need tans. If they made comments about Henry being too black and needing to get some bleach there would be an uproar.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Jesus Christ, people. They advertise themselves as a family friendly show, making racist jokes is not family friendly. What the fuck are you people thinking? If they changed their format to being an adult oriented show like they used to be, they'd have nothing to apologize for. They haven't, so they do.

Sorry Nate, but it's not at simple as that.

Today, society has become completely obsessed with being politically correct. Everybody is so worried about doing or saying something that might be offensive to collective groups of people. In some ways, I do agree because some things can be hurtful, and in some ways it's just a little too extreme.

These days, you can hardly even hint at anything controversial without pissing someone off. A few years ago, lots of people were outraged that the show Sons of Anarchy featured a scene in which one of the lead characters, played by Katey Sagal, was gangraped, and SOA is about as adult oriented as it gets. It's a show that sometimes features little bits of nudity, as did NYPD Blue back in the 90s, and people gripe and moan about it to this day. When I was a kid, some people thought it was the end of the world because a cartoon character, namely Bart Simpson, said damn or hell every once in a while. Remember the various anti-tobacco groups that were pissed because R-Truth lit up a cigarette on the Raw from London, England last year? They behaved as if Truth bent Kelly Kelly over and snorted a line of coke off he ass.

The joke made by AW and Tensai's comment sounded like the two of them going off the reservation. Given that WWE wants to have something of an edge while maintaining a family friendly environment, I don't think they'd have been approved by WWE beforehand. Tensai's comments are really the ones that could be potentially damaging. It was a racist comment, whereas AW's comment was mostly just an insensitive joke. To this day, people still joke about Kobe Bryant or OJ Simpson. I'm sure such jokes would irritate some but that's not even remotely in the same league as making a comment that insults an entire nation of about 120 million people.

 

[geroge86]

Linda's campaign fucks everything up for WWE. She can't escape negative press about WWE unless she left Vince which would affect her whole "we create jobs for thousands" motto. God forbid somebody makes a joke Daniel Tosh makes on Tosh.0 on a PG show. Whether its family friendly or not kids aren't gonna ask what the jokes mean they just want to watch John Cena play hide & seek with his hand & they go to bed happy for a week. Personally this new "family friendly" era is bullshit & needs to stop because it's messing with what's been known as a soap opera for guys at times. TV doesn't change stuff for women's soap operas to be more sensitive so why does wrestling have to? There needs to be a new attitude era because the garbage we get now is just an abomination to every wrestling fan ever. Enough with the politically correct nonsense & apologies & let pro wrestling be the revolutionary product it once was.

 

[LeviCook]

Neither of them should be suspended. You wanna know why? Because it doesn't cross the line of PG. You can say what they said is offensive or whatever but to me it's still within the guidelines. Tensai's slip up was off of TV. He should be given some slack for that. I'm not going to lie he should have known better but come on. If they are told to say whatever they want and run with it he's not 100% at fault. Same goes with AW. I understand punishing him a little bit more especially because some could take it as he made the subject of rape into a joke itself even though we all know he didn't. If you look back WWE has had way more offensive sh*t in the past. His little joke in comparison was nothing. AW has character as well. To me that fit his character. Loud and full of him self. It worked.

 

[rerun406]

^ off TV or not, hasn't Tensai spent enough time in Japan to know not to make a comment that can be interpreted as racist toward Japanese people?

**already said but of course in today's culture even the most mild of statements can be looked at negatively and or racist

is it official that AW and or Tensai are being fined and or suspended? Just curious if any action is being taken against them

 

[Nada]

Neither of them should be suspended. You wanna know why? Because it doesn't cross the line of PG. You can say what they said is offensive or whatever but to me it's still within the guidelines.

That is piss poor reasoning, the reason AW will be punished severely is because several major sports outlets like ESPN picked up on his tweet and this has made WWE look bad in comparison.

And its the worst time possible, as they just went 3 hour with Raw and are trying to get as much mainstream media attention as possible.

You can bank on AW being excluded on the next couple of Raw's, i dont expect to see him for a while.


Your so called "guidelines" dont mean jack when you are getting bad publicity like that.

To me that fit his character. Loud and full of him self. It worked.

At this point, are you even being serious? It worked? Worked for what here?

Ill tell you, it worked so well that you wont see AW on tv for a least a month, bank on it. Vince will most likely rip his head off

 

[bonesaw]

I can't believe they're making such a big deal over these things. AW makes a Kobe joke, how many jokes have Jay Leno, Letterman, Conan made about Kobe? Why is it ok for them, but not for a wrestler? Go back and look at the feud from 1996/1997 between Jerry Lawler and Goldust. Jerry literally calls him a "flaming ******" and a "queer" on Monday Night Raw. He certainly wasn't "reprimanded".

 

[Rayne]

There's a common misconception going through most posts here.

Justice, past precedent, or "what's right", has absolutely nothing to do with the AW/Tensai incidents. All that matters- literally, not figuratively- is if you make your employer look bad in front of an audience that they can't afford to look bad in front of.

In this sense "audience" doesn't mean the viewers of RAW and Smackdown. It means anyone who can object to WWE programming and create a financial backlash for them, typically through pressuring the WWE's advertisers to stop advertising on their program. It's easier, not to mention far cheaper, to just have the person in question at the time say "I'm sorry". It's all about money, remember; professional wrestling is not exactly a higher art form where we test the limits of freedom of expression. Why risk having some interest group launch a successful PR campaign against you, painting your company as racist/homophobic/wtfever, when you can just trot a guy out to say "I'm so sorry"?

Case in point: Look at Chick-Fil-A right now. They are being read the riot act by constituencies across the country; mayors are pledging to make it difficult for them to open stores. (Which is assuredly a First Amendment case for Chick-Fil-A, but zoning regulations tend to get slippery with the First.) Had they simply issued a press release stating "the views of such-and-such do not necessarily represent the views of Chick-Fil-A", the angst over them would have long blown over, even though they wouldn't have said anything about what their views actually are. I don't agree with their point of view, but I will say it takes a lot of courage to take what you view as a moral stand when there's a lot of cash on the line.

The WWE is a publicly traded company responsible to their shareholders. It's pretty difficult to explain to people who can buy and sell you on a whim why you're standing up for the right of someone to make a Kobe Bryant rape joke, even if it will cost the shareholders money.

 

[Kliq69]

There's a common misconception going through most posts here.

Justice, past precedent, or "what's right", has absolutely nothing to do with the AW/Tensai incidents. All that matters- literally, not figuratively- is if you make your employer look bad in front of an audience that they can't afford to look bad in front of.

In this sense "audience" doesn't mean the viewers of RAW and Smackdown. It means anyone who can object to WWE programming and create a financial backlash for them, typically through pressuring the WWE's advertisers to stop advertising on their program. It's easier, not to mention far cheaper, to just have the person in question at the time say "I'm sorry". It's all about money, remember; professional wrestling is not exactly a higher art form where we test the limits of freedom of expression. Why risk having some interest group launch a successful PR campaign against you, painting your company as racist/homophobic/wtfever, when you can just trot a guy out to say "I'm so sorry"?

Case in point: Look at Chick-Fil-A right now. They are being read the riot act by constituencies across the country; mayors are pledging to make it difficult for them to open stores. (Which is assuredly a First Amendment case for Chick-Fil-A, but zoning regulations tend to get slippery with the First.) Had they simply issued a press release stating "the views of such-and-such do not necessarily represent the views of Chick-Fil-A", the angst over them would have long blown over, even though they wouldn't have said anything about what their views actually are. I don't agree with their point of view, but I will say it takes a lot of courage to take what you view as a moral stand when there's a lot of cash on the line.

The WWE is a publicly traded company responsible to their shareholders. It's pretty difficult to explain to people who can buy and sell you on a whim why you're standing up for the right of someone to make a Kobe Bryant rape joke, even if it will cost the shareholders money.

Yeah except CFA literally just had the most sales in one day yesterday and last month nearly set a record for monthly sales.

As far as defending the comments about kobe to shareholders, it's simple: Our product was more profitable, ratings were higher , buyrates were higher, attendance was higher when our product included controversial and off-color remarks. Please be patient while we slowly transition our company to fit the viewing requirements of our largest demographic. We are going to take advantage of this free publicity and while we may never return to the complete crash tv format popular in the late nineties our goal is to put out a show of comparable content to the adult targeted animated sitcoms popular among our key demographic. We will strive to encourage parents to watch our programming with their children and use their own judgment on what is appropriate for their children. We do not believe any rating or government dictated standard is a substitution for parents acting like parents.

 

[Rayne]

As far as defending the comments about kobe to shareholders, it's simple: Our product was more profitable, ratings were higher , buyrates were higher, attendance was higher when our product included controversial and off-color remarks. Please be patient while we slowly transition our company to fit the viewing requirements of our largest demographic. We are going to take advantage of this free publicity and while we may never return to the complete crash tv format popular in the late nineties our goal is to put out a show of comparable content to the adult targeted animated sitcoms popular among our key demographic. We will strive to encourage parents to watch our programming with their children and use their own judgment on what is appropriate for their children. We do not believe any rating or government dictated standard is a substitution for parents acting like parents.

Which would result in half of the advertisers, operating under the belief that the WWE provides 'family friendly' programming, disappearing overnight. Advertisers don't make media buys just because your show gets viewers; they are trying to match up the best demographic group for their particular product. So you're talking about completely changing the advertising focus of the show.

Which would result in stockholders abandoning the stock through loss of confidence, depressing the stock value and lowering the value of the company further- stockholders typically aren't the most loyal bunch. Any new advertisers take advantage of the fact that you are now a large-scale buyer in the marketplace, to squeeze you for lower rates.

All of this on a bet which presumes that the only meaningful difference in the media market between the 1990's and today is the previous product had more dirty words.

Followed by telling "parents to be parents", which not only tells the audience that you view them as irresponsible, but actually challenges them to stop watching their programming.

What PR firm do you work for?

 

[DirtyD79]

So far the only person who whined about him doing it was some low level jocksniffer on ESPN. But then that's the same network that thinks spelling bees, poker, and competitive eating are sports.

 

[theBec2101]

Makes no sense Tensai and AW get in trouble but VKM can make fun of JR about a disability WTF.
I have an idea if you don’t want to be called out in a rape joke don’t rape nobody. And the Asian humor, unless if the other guy didn’t like it then it should just be harmless joking between people.

 

[rerun406]

^ actually it does make sense Vince is the owner of the WWE and can basically do whatever he wants

**look at all the controversial angles and things Mr. McMahon has gotten away with throughout the years

he can afford to call Cena a n*gga (edited for content) or fake his own death or mess with females 30+ years younger because he runs the company

where the leash is much shorter for someone like Tensai (a career mid carder in the WWE)