WWE Face Backlash For Super Bowl John Cena Tweet
WWE’s comparison of Cena to hip-hop royalty didn’t go down well on Twitter
Sunday night’s Super Bowl LVI half-time show featured some of the most legendary names in hip-hop and modern R&B, as Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg performed some of their biggest hits.
Looking to get some clicks on Twitter, WWE joined in with the celebrations, but their attempts at joining in the fun were condemned by some, prompting a quiet u-turn from the WWE.
In what could be seen as a somewhat tone-deaf move, WWE Tweeted a video of classic ‘Dr. Of Thuganomics’ era John Cena rapping his ‘Word Life’ theme, with the following caption:
“#Superbowl #HalftimeShow has us feeling like… @johncena”
WWE soon deleted the tweet, as speculation ran rampant on Twitter and Reddit as to why WWE removed it. Some say it was tasteless to compare Cena’s outdated ‘white-rapper’ gimmick to the hip-hop royalty on display, especially as the halftime show performance was seen as a celebration of BLM, with Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ an anthem of the movement. As an indirect result, Cena’s gimmick and WWE’s tweet could have been construed as appropriation.
Others pointed out that it would have been better for WWE to spotlight R Truth instead of Cena, seeing as R Truth is an active recording artist, and a full-time member of WWE’s roster, whilst some did not see any problem with the tweet at all. Whatever the reasoning, WWE simply deleted the tweet and moved on.