COMMENT | Professional wrestling |  |
“Muslim” wrestlers get smackdown in wake of bombings
There's nothing like an Arab villain to rile up the crowds at professional wrestling matches. But the stereotypes of two particular wrestlers went too far.
By Shahed Amanullah, July 28, 2005
The world of professional wrestling, which in the US ceased being a "sport" long ago in favor of entertaining the masses with soap opera-like story lines and theatrical fake violence, has long depended on "heels" (i.e. villains) to rile up the crowds. And there's nothing like a Muslim or Arab villain to stoke nationalistic fervor in times of trouble. Like the Iron Sheik, Abdullah the Butcher, and the Original Sheik before, wrestling giant WWE couldn't resist bringing two Muslim wrestlers to the SmackDown! arena, just as things in Iraq were getting depressing.
The official story line surrounding Muhammad Hassan (real name: Mark Copani, born in Jordan to an Arab mother and Italian father) and Shawn Daivari (born in Tehran; yells in Farsi at the crowd) sounded promising: they were upset at anti-Muslim prejudice and racial profiling following the attacks of 9/11 and wanted to get even with the bigots.
However, WWE pushed the stereotypes too far, adding a Muslim fanatic/terrorist angle at the last minute (including references to suicide bombing, beheading, etc.) that unfortunately coincided with the London terror attacks. "The character deals with a very sensitive issue," said Siwar Bandar, a spokeswoman for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "However, he does so in a context that is violent, that is turning his back on America." With Arab and Muslim groups complaining about the stereotypes, as well as others who chafed at the terrorist imagery, the characters were pulled last week.
Along with the stereotypes, however, went highly visible Arab/Muslim characters that made their case to a segment of the American populace that desperately needed to hear it. "Because we are of Arab descent, we are singled out, we are humiliated and often we are strip-searched because my name is Muhammad," growls Hassan. "We are Arab-Americans... and we demand the same rights that any American has!" Hassan and Daivari constantly used their microphones to decry racial profiling, tout the loyalty of Arab-Americans, and challenge racists, and judging by the reaction of fans to their demise, at least some got the message. "I am not a Muslim, but I agree with every point they made," writes a disgruntled fan. "I want to see them provoking the ill-educated American public and more than anything else, entertaining me... They will be sadly missed."
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
We try to remove any comments that do not conform to our netiquette guidelines. If any comments remain that are in violation, please let us know. The presence of offending comments does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of altmuslim.
Awwww no ... these guys were coo!! Most guys start off bad in Smackdown anways. But the Hasan character and his manager had good chemistry going on and the crowd response was brilliant too. They could have definitely stuck it out.
Why the fanatic angle? They could have just stuck with the Malcolm X type angle .. it would have worked ..
Bring them back .. bring them back!!
- Posted by Ghulam (South Africa) on July 29, 2005 at 12:56 PM
Hi folks. I am a spanish guy living in Germany and for nearly over 15 years wrestling fan. Basically its quite sad that this great character has been released. The so called "ill-educated American public" really deserves that kind of characters to get the real point in general public political discussions. Messages sent by these "characters" were simply great and i as not being a muslim fully agree with first what was indicated in their messages to the crowd and second that we need more of Hassan and Daivari to open the eyes of the american public. Mark my words, i fully agree with every single word they said.Bring them back!!With great respect to the great work of Mark Copani and Shawn Daivari!
- Posted by Alejandro (Germany) on July 31, 2005 at 06:57 PM
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