For those trying to keep an open mind with regards to the Muhammad Hassan storyline, WWE made the battle quite a bit more difficult.
Although it probably went right by many viewers, during the pre-PPV edition of Heat, Ivory made a rather controversial tongue-in-cheek comment that spoke volumes about the offensiveness of the company when it comes to the aforementioned angle.
Immediately after a promo for Muhammad Hassan’s RAW debut, Ivory asked Todd Grisham how he would be getting into Huntsville for RAW, to which he confirmed his desire to drive to the show. Things got ugly when Ivory responded with the following (via PWInsider):
“Good, because I don’t want you to be flying, if you get my drift.”
Due to the placement of the remark and common sense, this was obviously a tasteless use of the national 9/11 tragedy to further an angle and appear “hip” and “funny” on WWE TV. It is one thing to mention 9/11 when associated with an angle, but comedically referring to an event that left 3,000 Americans dead to promote an angle that’s already under intense scrutiny is crossing the line. WWE assured its “parents'” website that it would handle the Hassan character properly – this was far from proper.
Even if WWE intends to use her comments to remark about how Americans generalize and immediately associate Arabs with 9/11, using the statement in comedic context simply cannot be justified.
