Darren Young stands up for genuine cause

[Tired]

Fred Rosser (WWE Superstar Darren Young) took to Twitter tonight to stand up for a genuine cause.

When a wrestler is left off an international tour, he takes it one of two ways. He may be relived because he won't have to spend so many hours traveling just for a hectic schedule. Alternatively, he can be annoyed that he is missing out on opportunities as well as a paycheque. Young is not made that the WWE left him off their current tour. He is mad that the tour is still going ahead, and that he isn't allowed to talk about it.

In case you don't remember, Young publicly came out as gay in 2013. He is the first gay wrestler to be open about his sexuality while working on the main WWE roster. But this is why he has been left off the current tour in Abu Dhabi. Homosexuality is still illegal in the country, and still has laws that oppress women. Young was left behind for his own safety. With the WWE supporting so many equal and gay rights organisation, he felt it was hypocritical of the WWE to support Abu Dhabi by hosting live events there.

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Young on Twitter</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
Why do we bring the best entertainment into a country like abu dhabi and they look down upon women and gays? I get it! #MillionsofDollars
[/quote]

The "Millions of Dollors" quote is Young's catchphrase as part of the Prime Time Players tag team. It is also a suggestion that WWE has compromised its values in order to make money. He deleted the tweet, but it was followed by a seemingly related comment that suggested that he was told to delete it.

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Young on Twitter</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
My freedom of speech is gone. Gone but not forgotten.
[/quote]

Young later commented that:

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Young on Twitter</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
I feel like no none has my back and it upsets me. The struggle is real. I'm human.
[/quote]

Young has been re-tweeting a lot of support from fans, including WWE and WCW alumni Lance Storm and Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman. Sorry I could not get Waltman's comments.

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Lance Storm to Young</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
You've got people in your corner
[/quote]

He eventually posted this:

The WWE has released this statement within the last hour.

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>WWE Statement</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
“WWE does not discriminate against individuals regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation, and we continue to proudly support Fred Rosser (aka WWE Superstar Darren Young) for being open about his sexuality.

Unfortunately, WWE cannot change cultures and laws around the world, and thus we did not send Fred Rosser to the United Arab Emirates for our upcoming events for his own protection.

WWE also fully supports Fred Rosser’s right to express his views on personal social media accounts rather than WWE’s corporate platforms.”
[/quote]

The statement does not address Young's criticisms about the company even hosting shows in the country at all. One fan pointed out that the WWE had partnered with the NoH8 Campaign charity last year. This charity pushes for equal rights for all, including homosexuals and women in other countries. This is why WWE choosing to host shows in countries which such poor human rights records is so bad.

The WWE also upset gay-rights charity GLAAD by partnering with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. The deal involved featuring Hilton on Raw, and having several Divas feature on his website. Even though Hilton is openly homosexual, GLAAD has often disproved of Hilton's discriminatory actions towards the gay community. Among those actions, Hilton would often force celebrities to come out publicly by reporting that they were gay. This caused a lot of upset because many of his "outings" have been heterosexual, while the ones he was right about had wanted this deeply personal issue to remain private.

In a slightly related note; Young may not be the only current roster star kept off the tour for the same reason.

 

[AKI Man]

So who is the "other" person being kept off the tour for the same reason?

 

[Deleted User]

Darren Young is gonna be great in the reality era, and I wonder if this is a part of it.

That's a real gimmick they could run with, and he has all the tools.

 

[Tired]

@Keson: This is not a work, but could be written into one.

To be honest, I think Young would be a terrible choice to run with such a gimmick. Yes, it would be good to see a gay character finally played by someone who is actually gay. But that and his athleticism is all he has.

Before he got sidelined, he was sloppy in the ring and was terrible on the microphone. And he was getting into trouble for getting worse at selling. I still remember Luke Harper stiff shoting him to get him to stop overacting when selling moves. And he has already had 4 gimmicks, including 2 he pitched himself, that he has failed to get over. Not to mention that "Mr. No Days Off" has been out of the ring for almost a year with his second side-lining injury (forgetting about his 1 Wellness Policy violation). Young is still too green for such a valuable gimmick to be wasted on him.

@AKI Man: I have very strong suspicions about who the other gay WWE performer is. I can even back it up with certain clues. But I am not going to publicly out someone before it is public knowledge. I just pointed out that Perez Hilton did the same stuff, and I am not about to repeat it.