“Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality, Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with the truth so they invent a soft language to protect themselves from it.” -George Carlin, HBO special Doin’ It Again, 1990
The late revolutionary comedian broke barriers for free speech and made audiences think while he did it. As troubled as he was in his younger days when the excess of the 80s impacted him the way that it affected many in the entertainment field during that era, Carlin’s comedic record served as intelligent and thought-provoking. In the midst of all that, including highlighting the seven words that you can’t say on television, George forgot to pay his taxes. Reportedly, it took him almost twenty years to clear the tab with Uncle Sam. Even with a misstep, Carlin provided a lesson for fellow independent contractors.
Since his death in 2008, Carlin’s genius found new life through his Nostradamus-type observations that arguably apply even more today than when he originally performed them decades ago. George is right, American society has gotten soft, probably because of the increased access to social media where everyone has a platform to pretend to be informed, educated, or simply believes that the rest of the world is entitled to their drek. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but most lack the knowledge to credibly express it. The individual social media pages provide individual spotlight and as a result, the vast majority of social media content is self-serving rather than proclamations of an educated viewpoint or moral compass.
Along with that, there’s a large section of social media where those that are professionally offended in order to seek validation only do so because they look for social media cache for themselves rather than any type of code to stand up against the things that they claim to be offended about. A code of honor or moral decency shouldn’t be flexible depending on how many social media reactions that it gets. What’s right today, at least on the most basic level, remains the right thing to do, regardless of the resistance or acceptance to it. Everyone that can ask Google Gemini something suddenly claims an alphabet soup of illness or disabilities, with the notion that they want to be told how “brave” they are, or “how much of a warrior they are.” The reality is for those cream puffs that an actual diagnosis of illness or disability brings with it a harsh reality that isn’t something anyone going through those things wants to have highlighted on social media. Courage is commended by others, not validation sought by individuals.
Regardless, the circumstances of the modern age are the entertainers today walk more of a fine line now than ever before, both through social media and the technology itself that makes it possible. Everyone has a smart phone to be able to record everything. One negative interaction, even if the complete story isn’t captured, can go viral, creating a possible negative narrative about a celebrity. You might’ve seen someone flip out at the airport because autograph stalkers, but did the camera catch the initial decline before things got heated?
Of course, there are more obvious situations, which should make them much easier to avoid. Max Caster, who saw his All Elite Wrestling deal expire just a few weeks ago, was the surprise opponent for Moose at TNA’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view last weekend. During his entrance, Caster did his usual rap routine where he insults his opponents and during that brief mic spot, he made reference to the recent attacks at the Saudi International Airport in Riyadh. According to The Wrestling Observer website, the line was “unscripted and unapproved.” The following day, a statement was posted on TNA’s social media pages, apologizing for the remarks, and noted that Max Caster will no longer be wrestling for the promotion.
Caster’s logic or lack thereof for the reference is wrong on a few different levels. First of all, while his character lends itself to controversy, the attack had just happened the previous day, and there was literally no upside to trying to make light of an incident where people were killed less than 24 hours before. It goes without saying that the line had nothing to do with wrestling or Moose so what was it supposed to add? Finally, it was Caster’s debut in TNA, isn’t it common sense to clear everything before you walk to the ring on live pay-per-view to avoid something like this? The whole thing was ill-thought, if it was thought out at all, and undoubtedly ill-timed since there are still attacks going on in the region now.
Caster took to Instagram to issue an apology to TNA boss, Carlos Silva and those in the company that lobbied for him to get the spot at the pay-per-view. He claimed that his intention wasn’t to offend, but to entertain. He went on to say that if someone is offended, that’s their right. I don’t think this is a situation where viewers were necessarily outraged by mocking comments of conflicts on the other side of the world, but rather how low brow it came across, which is anything but entertainment value.
The bigger issue is the optics of the situation. TNA is a company that is trying to solidify itself as a player in the industry again. As we know, Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars on entertainment acts, are advertisers or networks going to want to be associated with something like the line that Caster said on pay-per-view? Keep in mind, TNA still has a working agreement with WWE, a global, publicly-traded corporation that makes more money for Saudi events than any of the other shows they run. Why would TNA risk souring that working relationship for Max Caster to be able to stay on the roster?
This isn’t a situation where a soft audience wants to claim faux outrage so that they can seem righteous on social media, it’s common sense based on the many moving parts of the business world where serious money decisions are made.
If this was a one-off, you might be able to chalk it up to Caster making a mistake, but keep in mind, he was suspended for a period of time by Tony Khan for a line that he said on the mic about Simone Biles in 2021. The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez said during a discussion of the situation that Caster supposedly had a reputation for going off script to say what he wanted prior to this latest incident. If that’s actually the case, Caster’s options for where to go next might be sparse, if they aren’t already. Again, there’s a portion of society that will manufacture outrage any chance they get so it’s not wise to provide them or any other demographic with actually material to fuel that outrage, especially in the business world. In hindsight, Caster’s hypothetical tendency to go off script might’ve been the reason that he was off of AEW television for nearly two years before his deal expired, while his former tag partner, Anthony Bowens was kept around in various roles until his contract was finished.
Where Caster goes from here is anyone’s guess. If AEW was willing to pay him to stay home, Tony isn’t going to re-sign him, at least not any time soon. He lasted literally one day working for TNA so we can assume that door is shut. Taking into account WWE’s previously mentioned business dealings with Saudi Arabia, they will have no interest in him. Even phony Phil had to apologize to Saudi, and Caster doesn’t have nearly the star power of CM Punk. If I had to guess, I’d say that he will either land in Major League Wrestling, or Game Changer Wrestling, where he might be able to get away with the more controversial lines, or both. Don’t get me wrong, when it was reported that The Acclaimed were set to leave AEW, I wrote an article that discussed that there was a time when they were one of the most over acts in the organization. Max Caster had the talent to work for a national promotion, he just doesn’t have the mindset to be successful on that level.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
