Xavier Woods of The New Day recently did an interview with Newsday to promote WWE’s recently released book entitled “The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.” Woods was asked about the criticism that The New Day has received as of late for their on-screen infatuation with pancakes, as some people associate it with an old 20th century racial stereotype:
“I said, ‘Well, if I’m a lumberjack, what do they eat? They eat flapjacks.’ It was hilarious. So, we said the next week, ‘Are we going to do pancakes? Yeah, sure. Why not?’ And that’s where the pancakes came from,” Woods said.
“If there’s ever any source of contention or anything like that, I think that it’s a situation where you should take a look at yourself and think about how deep you are looking into something that’s not really there.”
Woods said that he, Big E, and Kofi Kingston are “very aware of how we present ourselves,” but doesn’t think their creativity should be suppressed “simply because we are African-American males.”:
“All we want is a blank slate,” Woods said. “And if people continue to refuse to give us one, then they’re doing nothing more than continuing to hold up the social constructs that we’re trying to break down.”
You can read Woods’ full interview with Newsday by clicking this link here.
