After conservative radio show host Paul Watson attacked the WWE on Feb. 19 for what he called bashing the Tea Party, the WWE answered his criticisms.
In response to the claims that the WWE was using their programming to slam the Tea Party beliefs concerning illegal immigrant laws, WWE spokesman Brian Flinn tried to give a lesson in storytelling.
Flinn explained that the WWE has "protagonists and antagonists" much like all other television shows and feature films. As a result, the WWE puts their characters into storylines that reflect on current day society to develop a feud between two individual wrestlers. He also said that the WWE does not represent a political point of view and a person should not confuse fictional storytelling with what the WWE stands for in real life.
The original claims were based on the return of Jack Swagger, a former world champion, and his new manager in Zeb Colter. Colter and Swagger have the new tag line "don't tread on me" and talk about the problems in America, specifically dealing with illegal immigrants costing true Americans money, jobs and rights.
When Jerry "The King" Lawler made a joke that men like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones sent Swagger fan mail, that was enough to get Tea Party supporters up in arms. The WWE was accused of making fun of the party's beliefs and using their power as high level Republicans to drag them down.
Watson pointed out that WWE programming reaches 14 million Americans a week, 10-times more than "The O'Reilly Factor."
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