Glenn Beck Invited to Monday Night RAW

WWE has extended an invitation to controversial conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck in reaction to some comments he made earlier this week concerning the new Jack Swagger character and his feud with Alberto Del Rio. The company issued the following release earlier today:

WWE® INVITES GLENN BECK TO GET RAW

STAMFORD, Conn., February 22, 2013 – WWE has extended an invitation to talk show host and political commentator, Glenn Beck to appear live this Monday on Raw, in response to a segment that aired on TheBlaze TV yesterday. In the segment, Beck references WWE as “stupid wrestling people,” when criticizing a recent WWE storyline involving WWE characters Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio®, Jack Swagger® and Zeb Colter®. WWE is giving Beck the opportunity to address our 14 million weekly viewers and our global fan base, as he believes we are offending our “conservative” fans with this storyline.

Similar to other television shows and feature films, WWE is in the entertainment business, creating fictional characters that serve as protagonists or antagonists. To create compelling and relevant content for our audience, it is important to incorporate current events into our storylines. WWE is creating a rivalry centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view. This storyline was developed to build the Mexican American character Del Rio into a hero given WWE’s large Latino base, which represents 20 percent of our audience.

Beck criticized WWE’s usage of terms like “We the people” as a villainous term, and claimed that the company was isolating a large portion of what he believed to be their audience.

“You’re making a villain out of what,” Beck said in his original comments. “Probably 80 percent of your audience who’s tired as it is of being miscast? They’re tired of this.” It is unknown if Beck will respond to the WWE’s invitation, and whether this will be turned into a worked angle or not.

Related to the story, there is still no word on Jack Swagger’s WrestleMania future. Swagger was arrested Tuesday night following the Smackdown tapings for DUI and possession of Marijuana.

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