My take on the "Crown Jewel" controversy.

[d_henderson1810]

This post is a little late, because I have had a busy week and little time to post, and I didn't think of this until after the event.

I noticed that wrestlers pulled out of "Crown Jewel" and some reviewers refused to review the show, out of protest.

Now, I am not defending the Saudi govt for a minute. But, why are there all these boycotts and protests now, rather than back in May, when WWE toured?

Why, because a journalist got killed.

It is bad when anyone is murdered. But the amount of publicity concerning this event makes me wonder if the media talk about how bad it is because it was a fellow journalist who got killed?

I mean, if it had been a Christian missionary, or a politician, would there be the same outrage towards Saudi Arabia?

I wonder if it isn't so much the act, as to the profession of the victim of the act. Killing a journo goes to the essence of a threat to free speech and freedom of the press, and of course the media would be outraged about it, as it rocks the foundations of what they do every day.

John Cena boycotted "Crown Jewel", yet wrestled at "Greatest Royal Rumble", and even said what a great country Saudi Arabia is. Then, just months later, he boycotts it. Daniel Bryan wrestles at "GRR" but not at "CJ", out of protest. Reviewers reviewed "Greatest Royal Rumble", but not "Crown Jewel".

Now, people are upset about Saudi Arabia's human rights record, their treatment of females (and how they demand that WWE are not allowed to have females wrestle at PPVs in their country), and their treatment of homosexuals. But all those things were happening long before WWE set foot in the country. Those things were happening in May this year, as well as November this year. The only major thing that has sparked this outrage is the death of the journalist, and I wonder if the media have an agenda to talk more about it, because it is someone from their profession.

Cena and Bryan still wrestled in Saudi Arabia, and people still reviewed it, back in May, when women were excluded and the human rights record was just as shocking. But now, suddenly, 8 months later, now people protest and boycott. Critics tolerated GRR, but outright shunned CJ, when all that has changed in the country is a journalist being killed.

Also, I notice no-one pointed out the fact that Renee Young, a female, was on commentary at "Crown Jewel", making the number of females at Saudi PPVs one more than GRR.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

You answered your question, an American was killed and covered up, and then you went into a hypothetical that doesn't have a real answer because it's a logical fallacy.

No one pointed it out because women being on screen wasn't really the issue. Women can't compete, which was the real problem for many and was for GRR.

 

[Navi]

I don't think it was just because a journalist will killed it was the way he was murdered. First of all Saudi Arabia basically killed him in another country. Sure it might have happened inside their embassy, but they killed him in Turkey. Then there was the lies and cover ups that followed. It's been over a month, have they even admitted to it yet?

Over the years the Saudi's have had an abysmal human rights record, but that has never stopped people from visiting the country, companies like the WWE and others doing business with them, but this killing was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. No pun intended. Only two wrestlers refused to do the show, Cena who is part time at best now and Bryan who has some creative control over what he does. I didn't watch the show myself as I was at work, but did read the spoilers and was surprised that the amount of wrestlers that they didn't use. As far as I know everyone else was available but found it strange that Ambrose and others were left off the card. Was that their choice, I have no idea as I only read that Cena and Bryan outright refused to go.