https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_h57Pv9I-o
Earlier today, Eric noted that on one of Steve Austin’s podcasts this week, he chimed in on WWE’s suspension of Titus O’Neil. Austin felt that while the length of O’Neil’s suspension (60 days, reduced from 90) was excessive , grabbing Vince McMahon as he’s said to have done is a legitimate offense to be punished for. As a result, Austin also feels that this negates the racism allegations that have come from some fans throughout the news cycle of this story. Here’s what he said, and his wording in how he tried to get his point across:
Vince is 70 [years old] right now and that was a serious moment for him. He was totally in character. He cares about Daniel Bryan. He gets jerked pretty forcibly over there to Titus O’Neil and it was completely inappropriate. This may be pro wrestling/sports entertainment, whatever you want to call it, but that was a serious moment. It’s not a time to be shucking and jiving out there, so lay some type of punishment down. Fine him, this, that, or whatever. I don’t know. Something was appropriate, but when I started hearing the racism things, I was like, ‘I’ve got to roll my eyes and I’ve got to call complete and utter bulls–t in this one.’
Austin’s usage of “shucking and jiving” was quickly noticed in the comment section of Cageside Seats’ article about Austin’s comments, where it became a heated topic of discussion. The term is very loaded, as its origins are as a reference to black slaves singing while shucking corn (more details in this 2012 Slate.com article), and it’s generally used in a racial context of some kind. ESPN’s Bomani Jones found out about what Austin said via Cageside’s article and chimed in on Twitter:
when you try to say something wasn’t racist, but you say “shucking and jiving.” that’s unfortunate. https://t.co/rjIzv9a4e0
— El Flaco (@bomani_jones) February 18, 2016
A wrestling fan quickly replied and accused Jones of ” misconstru[ing] the usage here” because “[i]f you know Southern wrestling history, that is long used vernacular,” but Jones quickly shut it down:
and remains an unfortunate choice of words https://t.co/z4iHrmoESd
— El Flaco (@bomani_jones) February 18, 2016
None of this means that Austin or the fan who replied to Jones is racist. Still, it’s hard for a lot of people to see “shuck and jive” in a non-racial context for obvious reasons, and Jones is not wrong that using the phrase made Austin look completely oblivious (or worse). As for the fan quoted by Jones who argued it’s a pro wrestling term: I’ve only ever heard it used to describe wrestlers (both black and white) who tried to appeal to black audiences. So it’s a bit strange to see that argument, and doubly so since, unfortunately, the N-word was the “official” insider term for black wrestlers in some circles for decades. Being a pro wrestling term doesn’t excuse anything, especially in a business with so many decades of racial issues.