Wrestling fans demand WWE remove Donald Trump from Hall of Fame
By Jeremy Dick
WWE fans are protesting at the Barclays Center where SummerSlam is being held Sunday, demanding the company hip toss Donald Trump from the Hall of Fame.
Who knows whether or not Donald Trump will be impeached as president… but if these fans have their way, he’ll at least be booted from the WWE Hall of Fame!
For those unaware, no, this isn’t “fake news”. Donald Trump is a legit WWE Hall of Famer. In 2013, he was officially inducted into the company’s “Hall of Fame”. As baffling as that sounds, he’s in good company — a few other random celebrities such as Drew Carey are also in there.
For Donald’s part, his induction somewhat makes sense. Trump had been involved with the WWE for decades, having hosted the fourth and fifth WrestleMania events. He’s made sporadic appearances on the shows over the years, culminating by actually being involved in a match at WrestleMania 23.
Trump might actually be a good fit for the WWE’s Hall of Fame, given his involvement over the years. But his recent actions as president are causing many fans of the company to question Trump’s spot, and as a result, they’ve been protesting outside the Barclays Center this weekend, where the annual SummerSlam event is being held.
The Gothamist spoke to one of the protesters, who was happy to explain why they want Trump booted from the Hall of Fame. It’s attributed directly to the press conference Trump held where he equated white supremacists to the people protesting their hateful rallies.
“Basically WWE is endorsing those comments by having [Trump] in their hall of fame,” the fan explains. “I can’t wrap my brain around the fact that they’d leave him in there, take Hogan out and claim they say they care about racism.”
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The Hogan comment refers to the leaked sex tape the wrestler had appeared on, in which he was caught dropping the N-word. When this happened, the WWE fired Hogan and removed all references to him on their website, including his Hall of Fame page. Trump publicly siding with white nationalists certainly doesn’t seem to be any better, so maybe his HoF page should be scrubbed away too.
But, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Linda McMahon — wife of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon — is a part of Trump’s cabinet. I guess putting him in the Hall of Fame wound up paying off.