People Died on Linda McMahon’s Watch, And That Ain’t No Soap Opera
Don’t Exaggerate Ulterior Motive of Martha Hart’s WWE Lawsuit
June 23, 2010‘Voters Must Weigh McMahon Business Experience’
June 25, 2010Slick as owl shit, like the Linda McMahon campaign always is, Connecticut’s would-be Republican senator has rolled out a new TV commercial in which she turns the fake-vs-real question inside-out. Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo blog has a decent analysis, including a comparison of McMahon’s ad with the way another showbiz figure, comedian Al Franken, navigated a somewhat similar challenge during his successful run for the Senate seat in Minnesota. See “McMahon Downplays Her Pro-Wrestling Past: It’s A ‘Soap Opera’ That ‘Isn’t Real,'” http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/mcmahon-downplays-her-pro-wrestling-past-its-a-soap-opera-that-isnt-real-video.php?ref=fpb.
There’s a key difference, though, and it has nothing to do with whether Monday Night Raw is more high-, medium-, or low-brow than Saturday Night Live.
At Linda McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment, people die needlessly. Not soap-opera characters. People. And that isn’t funny.
Irv Muchnick
3 Comments
While you’re right, I get the feeling that *someone* will criticize you for comparing SNL to wrestling. Some people, like wrestling apologist/TNA shill Bob Ryder, have made “But why isn’t Congress investigating SNL!!!!!!!!!1111111111111” posts before, which don’t hold up to any scrutiny when you look at the details of the deaths. Though even if they were all suicides and overdoses, the percentage still wouldn’t be that high considering the number of cast members.
I think Linda McMahon said it herself: “That isn’t real. But our problems are.” Many families of ex WWE employees are hurting through the pain of substance abuse problems and needless deaths after losing their jobs because wrestling promoters are more worried about padding their bottom line than the well-being of their performers.
Oh, she was talking about we the country not we the company. Sorry, my bad.
Keith, I’m not a performer, but I am a former WWE employee who was part of the 10+% staff layoff in 2009 (under Linda’s watch). My family’s financial problems are very real now, and Linda’s skills as a CEO are to blame. It is my mission for the next four months to ensure that she does not become my next senator.