WWE responded to a social media backlash that it should have identified before they were made. A new shirt for WWE superstar Trick Williams included images of chicken wings in homage to Williams’ “Lemon Pepper Stepper” gimmick.
However, the tone deaf nature of the depictions have undertones of racism.
The shirt depicted fried chicken surrounded by a shoe in reference to Trick Williams’ slang referencing wearing nice shoes.
However, fried chicken has been used as a racist stereotype for some time. The backlash from the shirt caused WWE to pull it from the shelves.
You might recall that former WWE professional wrestler, ACH, fka Jordyn Myles, protested the making of a shirt for him with huge lips which was claimed to be an homage to the Rolling Stones logo. However, Myles believed the shirt was more of a slight toward the stereotype that black people have big lips.
One may naively think that these criticism are small, oversensitive and burdening free expression. Yet, the issue is that the designs were not thought out well or considering of possible issues with it. In the end, the WWE wants to sell merchandise. But, if someone points out the issue with it immediately there has to be a level of culpability on the maker in how much thought and detail did they have in the product.
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