Jerry “The King” Lawler has seen it all and done it all in the professional wrestling business. He has been a legend in Memphis, a WWE Hall of Famer, has promoted shows, and is one of the most iconic announcers in wrestling history. Lawler currently has a “Dinner with the King” podcast, where he offers his takes on everything in wrestling.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Lawler talked about the recent Hollywood sex scandals where names like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Al Franken and others have been accused of sexual harassment. Here is what Lawler said, with thanks to SEScoops for the quotes.
“It appears that eventually anybody that’s ever flirted with anybody or had any kind of sexual contact with anybody is, all of a sudden, you could potentially be a target in the future. I’ve seen pictures in the past of wrestlers, I’m not gonna say who or whatever, this was guys, but as a joke or a prank, a wrestler falls asleep, and another guy comes over and says ‘take a picture of this’ and he takes his genitals out and puts it near the guy’s face. It’s a prank and it’s done in jest, but it’s like a college kid’s prank. I’ve seen that done before.
“At the time, you’re thinking ‘this is totally harmless. But then if all of a sudden if, 15-years-later, that photograph shows up somewhere, it’s gonna offend somebody. That’s the way the country has become, that everything that 99% of the people may think is done in jest, or whatever, all of a sudden that 1% out there is gonna be offended by it. And that 1% can speak as loudly as the other 99% cannot.”
Lawler also recalled what things were like during the Attitude Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was on commentary saying risque stuff regularly.
“Good grief. I remember the stuff at commentary, things that we would be able to get away with saying, that nowadays, god, people’s heads would explode. Could you imagine going out and saying, get ready, tonight, we’ve got a bra and panties match. That used to be the highlight of a show. A bra and panties match. I remember, one of my favorite lines was, ‘panties aren’t the greatest thing in the world, but they are next to it.’”
Fans on social media have already begun taking Lawler to task for his comments, and it remains to be seen whether that backlash will become significant enough for WWE to comment on.