World Wrestling Entertainment is catching flack from conservatives for re-casting one of its fighters as an anti-Latino, Tea Party-inspired villain.
The crowd booed “Jack Swagger,” a character styled as an all-American blonde who really likes the Constitution, as he delivered a patriotic speech from the ring. (Watch the video above.)
His partner Zeb Colter then goes off on an anti-immigrant rant aimed at Swagger’s Latino opponent, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto del Rio. The two are set to face off at Wrestlemania 29 in April.
“I see people with faces not like mine,” Colters says. “I see people that I don’t even know what they’re saying. They can’t even talk to me. And I look around and I think, where did all these people come from? But most importantly I think, how do we get rid of ‘em?”
Conservative websites including The Blaze, Breitbart and Twitchy took offense to the storyline and the portrayal of Tea Partyers as racist.
“WWE is creating drama centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view to develop a rivalry between two characters," a spokesman told the Hollywood Reporter. "This storyline in no way represents WWE’s political point of view."
Swagger, whose real name is Jake Hager, got busted for speeding, DUI and possession of marijuana in Mississippi only hours after taping the anti-immigrant rant on Tuesday night.
It’s not the first time the WWE has played ethnic tensions. The organization once featured a tag team duo called the “Mexicools” who rode to the ring on lawnmowers, according to Fox News Latino.
Before You Go
