On his HBO show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” the comedian has called out WWE and UFC (and briefly mentioned AEW) for continuing to run live shows during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The WWE has continued staging shows in Florida, holding matches in front of empty chairs. But that requires a lot more people than just those two wrestlers. You need production crews working together in close proximity. While the WWE maintains its safety measures are as comprehensive as they can possibly be, one employee wrote an anonymous letter to a Florida county commissioner, asking them to shut the tapings down because ‘despite sanitary precautions, we cannot maintain social distancing and have to touch other people.’ It’s easy to see why CEO Vince McMahon doesn’t mind taking that risk, as he told investors on a recent earnings call, ‘viewers want to see new matches.'”
Oliver went back to talking about sports opening in America in general, but he did conclude mentioning about pro wrestling and UFC having no unions to protect their performer.
“While pro wrestlers and UFC fighters and college athletes have no union, those in major pro sports do and therefore, they have significant negotiating power. If you want them to isolate themselves from their families and put their lives at risk, you need their agreement.”
This is not the first time Oliver has called out WWE specifically. Oliver devoted a whole segment of his show in March 2019 before WrestleMania 35 strongly criticizing WWE for not having a union to protect their performers and how that has affected them later in life.
Transcriptions courtesy of Fightful.