ROCK’S PREZ DREAM NOT TOO FUNNY
Using his NBC show to flirt with idea, for shame
Do you smell what The Rock is cooking? It smells like ad dollars, desperation and a presidential run. Dwayne Johnson has been half-joking about running for higher office for years, right around the time another face of WWE made it to the Oval Office himself. But the jokes have always been slightly too serious to be laughed off, slightly too tinged with longing and ego.
“The idea of running for president has been very flattering that a good amount of people have been wanting me to run and, honestly, it’s so flattering, but I feel like the most respectful thing I could do is just learn as much as I could possibly do,” the 48-year-old actor told “Entertainment Tonight” in 2018 after Rolling Stone reported that he was taking “under-the-radar” political meetings.
“I think that it’s a real possibility,” he told British GQ in May 2017.
“It would be a great opportunity to help people, so it’s possible,” he told Vanity Fair in November 2016. “This past election shows that anything can happen.”
“Not sure our Founding Fathers ever envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick-up truck driving, fanny pack wearing guy joining their club — but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve the people,” he tweeted earlier this month in response to a poll that 46% of 30,000 people surveyed would vote for him.
But the “Jumanji” star’s subtle teases have never been louder than when he just straight-up announced his campaign — on his NBC sitcom, “Young
Rock.”
Most of “Young Rock,” which premiered in mid-February, is a fun family story about, well, a young Rock in three different timelines: at age 10 (Adrian Groulx), age 15 (Bradley Constant) and age 20 (Uli Latukefu). Dewey, as his parents call him, deals with first crushes and new college football coaches. “Family” is a vague word that has come to include his grandma, uncles and other wrestlers who will eventually become household names, André the Giant, the Iron Sheik, Randy Savage. Vince McMahon shows up, as do Ric Flair and Warren Sapp.
The framing device, however, is Johnson himself, ostensibly a fictionalized version, announcing his 2032 run for president on “The Straight Line with Randall Park.” Intermixed with the three-timeline flashback is a toosmooth Johnson, nailing every interview question that Park throws at him with ease.
This is where “Young Rock” becomes particularly cringy. When Johnson is on screen, the show is a campaign ad with NBC branding all over it. It’s a glossy fairytale about a boy who came from humble beginnings, worked hard enough to become a wrestling god and Hollywood legend and now just wants to save us little people from ourselves.
Johnson explains away anything that would pop up in oppo research (mostly just some shoplifting) with a chuckle. He always has an answer and he wants to give it to you, his loyal supporter, even when his “campaign manager” tries to cut the interview short.
He even has a vice president: General Monica Jackson, played by Rosario Dawson (don’t tell Cory Booker), who disagrees with Johnson on many issues but will, apparently, hold him accountable and, more likely, bring in the Hispanic vote.
The real Coach Ed Orgeron, Johnson’s defensive coordinator at the University of Miami who just won a national championship with Louisiana State, appears onscreen to endorse his former star on Park’s show, as does Johnson’s real mother, Ata.
Johnson and showrunner Nahnatchka Khan have created a Rock fit for the White House, all bulging muscles and disarming grins and just enough to humanity to convince you that he cares about you, yes you, little old you.
I’m just not entirely sure that this is all as fictional as Johnson — and NBC — would like us to believe.