Booker T Isn't Happy With The New Day Referencing His Infamous "Nigga" Promo On Smackdown
This past Tuesday on Smackdown, The New Day cut a promo on The Usos that referenced one of the most infamous Nigga Moments in professional wrestling history.
Now, that's funny, especially when you a) realize that The New Day are peak pro wrestling canon and b) you know the source material, which was from the WCW's Spring Stampede 1997 pay-per-view, where Booker T let the "n-word" slip during a promo.
I remember being excited when this promo was uncensored when the WWE Network debuted, but it looks like Booker T had some feels regarding the reference that he expressed during his Heated Conversations podcast last week (transcription via WrestleZone).
“I just want publicly make it known that I don’t condone that at all. Especially coming off of Monday night. We as a people, we gotta know when it’s time to speak up and when it’s time to shut up. My mother told me that a long time ago. And if you don’t know, you know, it’ll come back to haunt you. Me saying that, it’s haunted me for many years. Still. So, you put yourself in a situation for something to happen.
“Just like Mike Tyson did, I say that all the time. For these young kids to realize and speak up for themselves… but then again, I spoke up for myself because I was talent. That’s the difference. I spoke up because I knew I could speak up. More than anything, I implore these people out there to know exactly what they’re doing, and how they are affecting the next generation of young people growing up. That’s the most important thing as far as I’m concerned.
“And me personally, I know I’ve made mistakes. That word that I said on national television in front of the world, I wish I could go back and erase it. I wish that I could take it back, I wish that WWE would never do stuff like that ever again and left something like that happen.
“Me personally, like I said, I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know if [WWE] knew that the parody was gonna go down, because I knew [The New Day] write and do a lot of their own stuff. But I just don’t think that we as a company need to go that route. I think that parody should have never been shown on television, because it wasn’t a great moment for us as black people. For us as black people, it was one of our worst moments.”
Now the key to his statement is him mentioning "coming off of Monday night." He means that time LaMelo Ball said "nigga" twice on a live mic during the Miz TV segment on Raw last week. And I think I understand Big E and The New Day's reasoning. It's not like this would be the first time they slyly commented on something topical in a promo; what makes you think some young cat saying nigga on TV would be off limits?
Truth be told, it feels more like Booker T is a bit butthurt. I imagine he wishes he could "go back and erase" that time he called Hulk Hogan a nigga, although he was ready to give Hogan a second chance back in December. So really, is he just pissed that he didn't get a heads up before they brilliantly called back to his fumble?
What do you say? Was this one of the worst moments for black people? Slick Rick called chicken "yardbird" before his "Jive Soul Bro" video, but this was too much?
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