Politics
‘Racist’ WWE moments being removed ahead of Network switch to Peacock with 17,000 hours of footage being searched
SOME of WWE’s vintage content is being revised following the big-money switch to Peacock.
A host of clips have already ‘quietly been deleted’ from the archive after NBC Universal-owned streaming service purchased the 17,000 hours of WWE Network.
An incident involving Roddy Piper from WrestleMania 6 has been removed by Peacock[/caption]
And the Hollywood Reporter claims some of those removed were due to them being deemed racist.
They state that sources told them all the content is being reviewed to ‘ensure it aligns with Peacock’s standards and practices’ and that WWE is being informed of any edits.
One of the alterations included an incident between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown at WrestleMania VI in 1990.
Piper painted half of his face black for the match against the African American.
During a promo prior to the bout, he said: “I hear Bad News Brown, how he’s talking about Harlem, and how he’s proud to be from Harlem.
“Now I can stand here, and I can be Black! I can be white! Don’t make no difference to me. … It’s what’s inside.”
The Piper vs Brown match is now no longer included in the broadcast on Peacock.
Speaking about the incident years later, Brown said: “I thought it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.
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“And I figured, ‘Let him do it, … and one of these times he’s going to be sorry.’”
Another incident involved WWE’s CEO Vince McMahon himself and happened at the 2005 Survivor Series.
The billionaire, playing his on-screen heel persona, said the N-word to a stunned John Cena before strutting past Booker T, who then says: “Tell me he didn’t just say that.”
Even Vince McMahon was involved in a now deleted racist incident[/caption]
The WWE Network’s content began moving to Peacock on March 18 for US fans.
It has a dedicated WWE section that fans can access every PPV event over the past 12 months plus the latest episodes of Steve Austin’s The Broken Skull Sessions, WWE Chronicle and WWE Icons.
It is still continually adding WWE content and will eventually include every WWE, WCW and ECW PPV event as well.
