World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has announced its intention to stand with GLAAD and promote anti-bullying messages. The partnership comes after wrestler John Cena made a number of televised comments that many viewers considered anti-gay.
Cena’s comments, made in the context of the program WWE Raw, included negative implications of homosexuality in reference to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and another wrestler known as “The Miz.” Viewers complained about a rap song in which Cena mocked Johnson’s film roles with lines like, “He wore lipstick in Get Shorty, and rocked a skirt for The Game Plan,” and “Just don’t go racing to Witch Mountain, Rock, cause your mountain is Brokeback.”
A week later, Cena taunted “The Miz” while facing off in the ring by suggesting that he and his wrestling partner, Alex Riley, were secretly a couple.
“They’re going to buy one of those tandem bikes and ride to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy some duvets. And every evening they’re going to relax with a glass of warm piot noir and watch The Notebook, or reruns of last season’s Bachelor,” Cena said.
Viewers and anti-bullying advocates were particularly concerned about Cena’s comments after the WWE began promoting itself as a PG network for adolescent viewers. In response to mounting complaints, GLAAD contacted executives at WWE and received a prompt response in favor of anti-bullying initiatives. WWE issued an apology explaining that they take the issue “very seriously”:
“We are taking steps and working with GLAAD to ensure that our fans know that WWE is against bullying or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. We strongly value our fans in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and apologize to them for these incidents.”
