Jim Cornette Discusses His Controversial Remark On NWA Powerrr Episode Seven
The former NWA commentator discussed the incident on his own podcast
Following a remark on episode seven of NWA Powerrr, announcer Jim Cornette resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance on 20th November.
For the first time since resigning, Cornette has discussed the remark, along with his initial reaction to the online controversy around the incident.
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, he explained his initial reaction was, “I get up on Wednesday morning and I sat down at the computer, and I have broken the God damn world." Cornette elaborated on his version of events: “I told a 30 year old Ethiopian joke about starvation...
"So right as I'm trying to digest all this, the phone rings, it's 8:30 in the morning and it's David Lagana. I said, “What in the f**k is going on?” And he tells me that, obviously the All Elite Wrestling cosplay wrestling fanboy/fangirl contingent, immediately after the show was over, started tweeting about this, and creating an uproar, like I had been describing my favourite bestiality videos on a f*****g live broadcast.”
Cornette then discussed the phone call with Lagana. Upon confronting him about what he thought during editing, he said, “At any rate, David is talking about an apology, and a statement, and this and that...So anyway, in this case, I said "David, this was a taped show. I said what did you think about it when you heard it?" He said, "Well it went right past me.”
He explained further that the remark itself originated during the 1980's when Live Aid was trying to assist with famine in Ethiopia, and because of this, jokes about starving Ethiopians were rife in pop culture at the time. Adding: “It's a starvation joke, not a race joke.”
The former NWA announcer then admitted that if somebody in editing had told him not to make the joke, as it was in poor taste, he would have apologised and moved on. But, because of the perceived overreaction from wrestling fans and David Lagana, Cornette chose to resign, noting the job "wasn't fun anymore," because he was having to apologise for things every couple of weeks he wasn't actually sorry about.
For the first time since resigning, Cornette has discussed the remark, along with his initial reaction to the online controversy around the incident.
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, he explained his initial reaction was, “I get up on Wednesday morning and I sat down at the computer, and I have broken the God damn world." Cornette elaborated on his version of events: “I told a 30 year old Ethiopian joke about starvation...
"So right as I'm trying to digest all this, the phone rings, it's 8:30 in the morning and it's David Lagana. I said, “What in the f**k is going on?” And he tells me that, obviously the All Elite Wrestling cosplay wrestling fanboy/fangirl contingent, immediately after the show was over, started tweeting about this, and creating an uproar, like I had been describing my favourite bestiality videos on a f*****g live broadcast.”
Cornette then discussed the phone call with Lagana. Upon confronting him about what he thought during editing, he said, “At any rate, David is talking about an apology, and a statement, and this and that...So anyway, in this case, I said "David, this was a taped show. I said what did you think about it when you heard it?" He said, "Well it went right past me.”
He explained further that the remark itself originated during the 1980's when Live Aid was trying to assist with famine in Ethiopia, and because of this, jokes about starving Ethiopians were rife in pop culture at the time. Adding: “It's a starvation joke, not a race joke.”
The former NWA announcer then admitted that if somebody in editing had told him not to make the joke, as it was in poor taste, he would have apologised and moved on. But, because of the perceived overreaction from wrestling fans and David Lagana, Cornette chose to resign, noting the job "wasn't fun anymore," because he was having to apologise for things every couple of weeks he wasn't actually sorry about.
Written by Aidan Gibbons
Editor-in-Chief of Cultaholic.com Twitter: @theaidangibbons
