Audio By Carbonatix
Pro wrestling and Glenn Beck are in a fight. Apparently this has been news for a few weeks, but we’ve only just learned about it, courtesy of Mediaite, who bring us the delightful video clip you see above, of WWE commentator Michael Cole trying his hardest to storm Glenn Beck’s Las Colinas studio for an interview. Spoiler: he does not succeed.
The very important, deeply serious back story: WWE has invented two “Tea Party” villain characters named Zeb Coulter and Jack Swagger. They wear safari vests, hate illegal immigrants, and are real bullish on President’s Day. In the video promo for WWE at the link, they fulminate about “hard-working English speaking folk” losing their jobs to shadowy illegals, against a backdrop of a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.
It’s all very subtle. Slate pretty much calls this one, terming it a blatant publicity stunt. As opposed to the stuff WWE does to promote literacy and fight world hunger.
Will you step up to support Dallas Observer this year?
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If the Dallas Observer matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
Several people, probably the ones you’d expect, have taken the bait. Alex Jones and his InfoWars folks got pissed off about it first. Beck leapt on the bandwagon shortly thereafter, asking “Did George Soros buy the WWE?”
WWE quickly responded, inviting Beck to appear on a Monday night broadcast. In an unusual display of common sense, he declined, responding, “Unfortunately, I am currently booked doing anything else.”
WWE, though, isn’t willing to let such a golden TV opportunity slip out of their hands so easily. On Monday night, WWE aired a segment showing Michael Cole and his hideous tie as they hang out in the Las Colinas studio lobby, demanding to see Glenn Beck. Because that always works.
“You’d think if Mr. Beck had such inflammatory comments about our product, he’d at least be willing to come out here and do a one on one interview with me,” Cole says. A few minutes later, he reiterates, “What I find hard to believe is a man with such outspoken views, it is extremely difficult to get this man to come out and talk about those views with us.”
A few moments later, a tiny, terrified-looking teenager in a large suit and an earpiece comes over with this to offer: “Um, yeah, the president of the studio asked me to ask y’all if you had a permit to be filming here?”
Eventually, the person who appears to be the studio president himself comes out. “This is my studio and I’m telling you you’re not welcome here,” he says, giving Cole the opportunity to flee to the parking lot and relate the whole sad saga into his cellphone and the camera simultaneously. Just extraordinary.
