— In case you missed it yesterday, Ring Of Honor wrestler Cedric Alexander feels WWE is being racist in the way they are treating “The New Day” faction in recent weeks, and he isn’t shy in voicing his opinion on the subject.
During a recent appearance on the Jobbing Out podcast, the ROH star shared his feelings on the topic.
Below is an excerpt from the interview:
“This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know that watches WWE is offended by The New Day… extremely offended because of the whole racial thing. It’s like, ‘oh we’re three black guys, we’ll sing, we’ll dance. You’ve got Kofi Kingston, who’s a phenomenal athlete, Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more… serious, I guess? When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don’t offend anyone. But when you’ve got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it.”
Check out the complete interview at GlennClarkRadio.com.
— As noted earlier, Tommy Gilbert, acting on behalf of his son Eddie’s estate, and his younger son Doug Gilbert, filed a lawsuit against WWE and ESPN recently.
Both brothers appear on Global Wrestling Federation shows that air on ESPN Classic in the United States, as well as various libraries WWE owns.
Additionally, WWE Network’s video on demand library includes various matches of both brothers, some of which feature Doug being in his “Dark Patriot” character in WCW.
The Gilbert’s are claiming that they never gave permission for WWE or ESPN to use their likeness and have not been compensated for it.
Below is the complaint that was filed:
“While they performed live, neither of the Gilberts signed contracts or gave permission to WWE or ESPN to use recordings of the Gilberts’ names or likenesses. The defendants have impermissibly and in violation of the Gilberts’ rights of privacy shown recordings of past wrestling matches that use and display the Gilberts’ names and likenesses. Additionally, Defendants have violated the Gilberts’ rights of privacy by using the Gilberts’ names and likenesses through other media. Neither Doug Gilbert nor Eddie Gilbert has received compensation for the Defendants’ use of the Gilberts’ names and likenesses. Accordingly, the Gilberts seek compensation and all other damages to which they are entitled based on Defendants violation of the Gilberts’ rights of privacy.”
The Gilberts are not seeking to block use of the footage; instead, they just want to be paid the compensation they feel they’re due. Meanwhile, WWE made a statement to TMZ, and to quote their paraphrase of it:
“The WWE believes it has full clearance. A rep tells TMZ … the org has purchased legal rights to use old footage from other wrestling groups — such as ECW and WCW — and as a result … it expects this lawsuit to be dismissed.”
