Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Says WWE’s Labor Practices Exude ‘Plain F—ing Greed’
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Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang shook up the wrestling industry when he called out WWE on Twitter for their labor practices following an internal memo that said all talents must cease third-party app engagement on platforms such as Cameo, TikTok, and Twitch.
In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Yang expanded upon his belief that WWE’s corrupt business practices are long overdue for a change and did not mince words when describing the way he feels about how WWE does business.
(h/t: Fightful for the transcription)
“The McMahons have made so much money, they have money to where they’re investing in football leagues. If you’re a wrestler, breaking your back, and the WWE is like ‘oh, we can’t afford you, you’re fired.’ It’s like, ‘Well, you probably could afford me if you could afford to lose tens of millions on [The XFL] debacle.’ The affordability argument does not apply to WWE the way it applies to every other firm. If you look at AEW, I have a feeling that their economics are real. WWE does not have those constraints anymore because it’s a public company. If your company is worth $3.3 billion and you’re mistreating workers, that’s just shameful, really shameful. There was a point in the distant past where you could have made a legitimate argument based upon cost, but now you can’t. Now, it’s just plain fucking greed. We can all see it.”
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He continued, “Vince and the gang, they thrive because the mainstream press won’t do anything because it’s wrestling. The wrestlers don’t say a damn thing because they know it will come down on them like a ton of bricks. So, ‘let’s keep exploiting people, make our millions, and we’ll get away with it for decades and decades.’ The bill is coming due and I’m going to be the person that does it or the person who is there when it’s done and it’s going to give me great pleasure because the people know.”
In the interview, Andrew Yang reiterated that he is not married to the idea of being the Secretary of Labor should Joe Biden win November’s presidential election but he will do whatever he can to make sure these labor practices change.