Stephanie McMahon's recent comments may have outed pro wrestler Darren Young yet again and have put World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) in the hot seat.
The 38-year-old chief brand officer of WWE recently opened up about the 35-year-old wrestler, and it appears that her words brought confusion to the ears of the media. For one thing, she revealed that while Young is gay in real life, his WWE character isn't, The Daily Beast has learned.
"Darren Young was the first WWE superstar to really come out as being homosexual, but his character in the show is not. At least, we haven't done anything with it either way - just yet," McMahon said.
Stephanie McMahon's comment may have been an attempt to clarify that the WWE has yet to introduce a gay character into the ring since she clearly set the record straight that Darren Young - the man fans know as Titus O'Neil's tag team partner - is gay, while Frederick "Fred" Douglas Rosser III - the man who plays the character - is not.
McMahon also clarified she is not opposing the idea of bringing in an LGBT character into the ring because she thinks that this is very timely given that Olympian Bruce Jenner's transition to Caitlyn Jenner received a lot of positive feedback. Plus, this is also a good move in the business aspect of WWE, as per WrestleZone.
"It could very well pop up in WWE because we are all about what's relevant, and what's pop culture, and what people want to see. So if there is an opportunity, we might just take it," McMahon said.
She then went on to say, "In WWE our storylines are a year long. They don't go episodic, week to week-they really are the arc from WrestleMania to WrestleMania. So sometimes it takes a little longer than people would like for the seeds to grow. But we're constantly planting them."
It can be noted that Darren Young or technically Fred Rosser came out as gay in August 2013 during a spontaneous interview with TMZ.
Asked if a "gay wrestler" can make it in the WWE, Rosser surprised the interviewer when he said, "Absolutely. Look at me. Ya know. I'm a WWE superstar and to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay. And I'm happy. I'm very happy."
When the interviewer began to stammer, Rosser continued by saying that his sexuality shouldn't matter and that it shouldn't change how people should see him.
"We're all adults. All sports are physical. When I come to work, I come to work," Young quipped before saying, "Business is business."
Checked out the interview below.
At the time, CNN quickly asked WWE to say something about Rosser's coming out and the entertainment company said, "[The] WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar."
