WWE Talks With The White House Over Having Dr Anthony Fauci Appear On The Bump Revealed

WWE held talks with the White House over having Dr Anthony Fauci appear on The Bump to raise awareness of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to former host of The Bump Matt Camp. Fauci ultimately never appeared on the WWE show, however, after Vince McMahon rejected the idea as being too political. 

"So conversations actually started and took place with the White House, the White House, the President. There were conversations happening with the White House about, this is a big global entity and there's another way to get the word out about Dr Fauci, who became the main character of COVID and the pandemic, coming on... that guy was going to appear on WWE programming to get the word out about getting the vaccine or vaccine awareness and all that. So actual communication did take place with the White House, and it was determined that this appearance, I think [it] was discussed in a few different ways, would happen on The Bump," Camp said on his YouTube channel. 

The original idea for The Bump was to have a round table discussion with Fauci, Drew McIntyre, and Mercedes Moné (then Sasha Banks) about the pandemic and the COVID-19 vaccine. Vince McMahon was initially on board with the idea, only to change his mind. 

"Initially, I was told he was on board, and when it came down to, 'Hey, this is gonna happen, the details have all been figured out,' I don't know if in the end it was gonna be Drew and Sasha. I think Drew was gonna be involved. It was just gonna be, I think the idea was a round table discussion of the pandemic and living in it and being entertainers in it, getting the word out about the vaccine, all that. But Vince had to give the final [thumbs up], and he did this [thumbs down]. As you may expect, considered too political. It was one of the few times he got directly involved with the show, that I know of. Vince said no, and it didn't happen," Camp added.

"That was the end of it. I think the intent was good. I don't know how it would have been received. I think it would have been a big deal for the company to do it. But that was considered political. 'We think this is political, so we're not gonna do it.' So Anthony Fauci didn't join the esteemed guest list of Bump guests because Vince said, 'Nah, not gonna happen.'"

Anthony Fauci, who was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the time, was one of the leading members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. He was one of the public faces of the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, however his advice was often contradicted by President Trump. Following Joe Biden's inauguration, Fauci was Biden's Chief Medical Advisor until he stepped down at the end of 2022. 

Matt Camp is no longer a part of WWE, having been fired by the company in early 2024 after five years under contract.

H/T Fightful