WWE's Social Media Racism Controversy Continues
Ever since the debacle over Hulk Hogan's racist comments surfacing online, and his resulting dismissal and expulsion from the Hall of Fame, WWE has been trying to get a grip on their stars' social media presence, leading to some high-profile sackings and a fair few less-than-savoury statements bubbling to the surface.
Sure, they're aiming for some positive impact with their #GoGold initiative running through September, but the vast majority of press surrounding the entertainment giant has been overwhelmingly negative.
The latest controversies have revolved around the WWE's Diva ranks, specifically Nhooph Al-Areebi (known to fans as Jasmin) and Zahra Schreiber. Jasmin hit headlines when posts surfaced on Reddit from a time when she would have been around 16-17 years old, that contained some undeniably unacceptable racial comments. That post that caused most of the controversy stated:
"Ugh…f***ing n***ers…that’s why I chose white folk. Hmph"
It's pretty easy to see why people would be offended by that, but surprisingly WWE spoke up in her defence and opted not to expel the Diva from their roster, claiming that the posts had been made by somebody else who had control of Jasmin's account at the time. Their official statement on the incident read: "WWE conducted a thorough investigation and has determined that Nhooph Al-Areebi’s (aka Jasmin) Twitter account was used without her knowledge when she was 16 and 17 years old. Jasmin remains apologetic for any offensive remarks that were made."
Jasmin has herself since apologised for the incident, commenting: "Unfortunately, I used poor judgment sharing my Twitter account with someone else. I am truly sorry for any offensive remarks that were posted."
With that particular incident, I suppose we have to take WWE at their word and assume that the posts were in fact made by another individual, but the storm surrounding Zahra Schreiber has proven harder to quell.
For Schreiber it was Instagram, rather than Twitter, that landed her in hot water. Schreiber managed to enrage just about any rational-thinking person who saw her posts with two pictures, both of which seemed to endorse Nazi themes and ideology. The pictures, which have now been deleted from her account, both contained the Swastika, a symbol now synonymous with the Nazi party regardless of its use previous to their appearance.
Schreiber attempted to downplay to barrage of hatred she received by claiming she liked the Swastika due to its historical association with "prosperity and luck" rather than its more recent re-purposing, but that argument was rendered useless by the second image to surface, which depicted Hitler as a character from My Little Pony. In an unexpected turn, a fan tried and failed to defend the Diva's actions, but the vast majority of people seemed to have a little more sense about them. As you would expect, WWE quickly dismissed Schreiber from their roster.
Following the overload of controversial posts and statements that have begun to pour from the company, WWE have started to drastically think their social media policy. Posts from stars are likely to be closely watched by the company and they have already announced plans to screen prospective talent's social media presence for anything that may be seen as offensive or controversial. If anything is found, the decision will be made as to whether it is simply a stupid comment needing to be deleted or a symptom of a larger problem with the individual. Hopefully, this should stop the onslaught of vile sentiment that is emerging from within the ranks of the WWE. Only time will tell if it works.
Sure, they're aiming for some positive impact with their #GoGold initiative running through September, but the vast majority of press surrounding the entertainment giant has been overwhelmingly negative.
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| Left to Right: Zahra Schreiber / Nhooph Al-Areebi (Jasmin) Twitter.com/prowrestling.wikia.com |
The latest controversies have revolved around the WWE's Diva ranks, specifically Nhooph Al-Areebi (known to fans as Jasmin) and Zahra Schreiber. Jasmin hit headlines when posts surfaced on Reddit from a time when she would have been around 16-17 years old, that contained some undeniably unacceptable racial comments. That post that caused most of the controversy stated:
"Ugh…f***ing n***ers…that’s why I chose white folk. Hmph"
It's pretty easy to see why people would be offended by that, but surprisingly WWE spoke up in her defence and opted not to expel the Diva from their roster, claiming that the posts had been made by somebody else who had control of Jasmin's account at the time. Their official statement on the incident read: "WWE conducted a thorough investigation and has determined that Nhooph Al-Areebi’s (aka Jasmin) Twitter account was used without her knowledge when she was 16 and 17 years old. Jasmin remains apologetic for any offensive remarks that were made."
Jasmin has herself since apologised for the incident, commenting: "Unfortunately, I used poor judgment sharing my Twitter account with someone else. I am truly sorry for any offensive remarks that were posted."
With that particular incident, I suppose we have to take WWE at their word and assume that the posts were in fact made by another individual, but the storm surrounding Zahra Schreiber has proven harder to quell.
For Schreiber it was Instagram, rather than Twitter, that landed her in hot water. Schreiber managed to enrage just about any rational-thinking person who saw her posts with two pictures, both of which seemed to endorse Nazi themes and ideology. The pictures, which have now been deleted from her account, both contained the Swastika, a symbol now synonymous with the Nazi party regardless of its use previous to their appearance.
Schreiber attempted to downplay to barrage of hatred she received by claiming she liked the Swastika due to its historical association with "prosperity and luck" rather than its more recent re-purposing, but that argument was rendered useless by the second image to surface, which depicted Hitler as a character from My Little Pony. In an unexpected turn, a fan tried and failed to defend the Diva's actions, but the vast majority of people seemed to have a little more sense about them. As you would expect, WWE quickly dismissed Schreiber from their roster.
Following the overload of controversial posts and statements that have begun to pour from the company, WWE have started to drastically think their social media policy. Posts from stars are likely to be closely watched by the company and they have already announced plans to screen prospective talent's social media presence for anything that may be seen as offensive or controversial. If anything is found, the decision will be made as to whether it is simply a stupid comment needing to be deleted or a symptom of a larger problem with the individual. Hopefully, this should stop the onslaught of vile sentiment that is emerging from within the ranks of the WWE. Only time will tell if it works.
Sam Bonson
Sam is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. Currently working as Editor of Social Songbird, he hopes to one day drop that 'aspiring' prefix. Follow him @SamAtSMF
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WWE's Social Media Racism Controversy Continues
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, September 14, 2015
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, September 14, 2015
Rating:
Unknown
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