Darren Young was the first WWE superstar to really come out as being homosexual, but his character in the show is not. At least, we haven’t done anything with it either way — just yet… It could very well pop up in WWE because we are all about what’s relevant, and what’s pop culture, and what people want to see. So if there is an opportunity, we might just take it. I think the big worry that WWE has is that they think their audience is really stupid. So they worry that they’re going to have a character who comes out as gay, and it’s going to be like the Mexican soccer fans in Charlotte chanting [antigay slur] ‘culero’. I think they think that their fans would chant something homophobic at him, and that’s going to get press and make WWE look not progressive…You know, in WWE our storylines are a year long. They don’t go episodic, week to week — they really are the arc from WrestleMania to WrestleMania. So sometimes it takes a little longer than people would like for the seeds to grow. But we’re constantly planting them.”
— Stephanie McMahon, WWE’s Chief Brand Officer and sometimes-onscreen villainess, telling The Daily Beast why the character played by Darren Young, who is out in real life, might or might not come out in the wild world of wrestling
Ken Spragg
Uh, can anyone *really* envision the WWE doing this without resorting to every stereotype in the book? Their explicitly-minority-identity ‘characters’ have always been offensive caricatures, a gay one would be no different.
AtticusBennett
why not? it’s already as choreographed as ballet. what we need is a gay character to kick the living s**t out of some Confederate-flag waving character.
Steve Carey
Make the gay guy Queen and go after The King Jerry Lawler for the queendom.
We all know queens are more powerful than kings.
Look at Queen Elizabeth.
She rules United Kingdom for decades.
jwtraveler
It’s already the most homoerotic “sport” we have. Do they really need to do anything to make it gayer?
Realitycheck
Darren and boyfriend……
http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2013/news/131014/darren-young-768.jpg
Curty
Hey at least they have an openly gay person playing straight. How many Hollywood actors can you say that about?
Finrod
@Ken Spragg: That’s the nature of full equality. We get to be lampooned like every other group. Do Al and Peg Bundy make heterosexuality look good?
BrianD
Please read the actual article related to this story as Stephanie did not say the WWE thinks their audience is stupid. She basically is the WWE. That quote came from Ben Miller, columnist for Wrestling Observer.
martinbakman
Nice titties.
stephen driscoll
@AtticusBennett: Professional wrestling is not choreographed. It is largely improvised. Yes, the “finish” is predetermined and the workers may devise some “high spots” during the match, aided by direction from the referee and direct communication between the two (or more) workers. Dancers know their steps, musicians know their charts, actors know their lines. Pro wrestlers largely wing it. It is professional wrestling’s fundamental conceit.
stephen driscoll
But yes, they’ll probably screw it up.
jwtraveler
@Curty: Apparently you haven’t seen a movie or TV show this century.
Masc Pride
It probably could happen because the WWE may try it when the price is right. The WWE audience is an important thing to consider though. Highly doubt the fans really care. They’re most likely not going to have a #LoveWins moment. And one gay WWE character certainly won’t change any minds about gay men and masculinity (or lack thereof) as long as there are 100’s of gay characters twirling around on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Yes, it could happen. But it probably won’t matter.
pedro27
you’ll see it will happen soon.