KOing the racist ring
NBCUniversal cleans up WWE content for Peacock
NBCUniversal is quietly scrubbing racist, risqué scenes from classic WWE matches before it adds the wrestling network’s massive trove of old footage to its new Peacock streaming service.
According to wrestling fan site, PWInsider, Peacock has deleted a match from the 1990’s “WrestleMania VI,” which featured a match between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown that included Piper, a white wrestler, painting half his face black while facing off against Brown, a black wrestler.
“I hear Bad News Brown, how he’s talking about Harlem, and how he’s proud to be from Harlem,” Piper said during the prematch interview, which was also removed from the service. “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.”
A source familiar with the situation told The Post that the Peacock is reviewing all 17,000 hours of WWE content to ensure it aligns with its standards and practices. WWE is also being made aware of any edits. NBCUniversal’s nascent streaming service nabbed the exclusive US rights to WWE Network in January. Those new and archived matches became available to stream starting March 18.
Another deleted scene was from 2005’s “Survivor Series 19,” in which WWE CEO Vince McMahon, who is playing up a corporate-villain persona, said the N-word to a shocked John Cena. He then strutted past Booker T, a black wrestler, who said: “Tell me he didn’t just say that.”
At the time, a WWE spokesperson defended McMahon to TMZ, calling it “an outlandish and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many scripted television shows and movies.”
Over the years, there have been many other racist and offensive moments, which are sure to keep the Peacock busy.
Peacock, which costs $4.99 a month, has a dedicated WWE section where customers can browse and access every pay-per-view event in the last calendar year plus current or recent episodes of WWE original series.
Peacock said its goal is to have all the classic content reviewed and available to stream on demand before “SummerSlam” in August.