As all WWE content makes the leap over to Peacock before it’s shut down for good on April 4, fans have noticed something unusual: Not all of it is making the trip.
While WWE Network streams were broadcast in their original form, some of those same streams on Peacock are missing fights and dramatic moments from outside the ring. As some fans have realized, the missing moments are problematic in one way or another — including notable examples of racism from key figures like “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Vince McMahon.
Peacock owner NBCUniversal didn’t say a word about the changes until people took notice and called the company out. In a statement provided to the New York Times, NBCU said, simply: “Peacock and WWE are reviewing all past content to ensure it fits our 2021 standards.”
That’s all well and good, but at what point does aligning past content with current brand standards come into conflict with the need to own past instances of bad and/or offensive behavior? Because I’ve gotta say, it feels like we’re getting pretty damn close to blowing that conflict wide open here.
Peacock’s move seems similar at first to other steps that have been taken to remove or re-contextualize offensive entertainment content from the past.
There was the moment in late 2019, just after Disney+ launched, that Disney added disclaimers warning of “outdated cultural depictions” in some of its programming. The company even amended that disclaimer in 2020 to more directly own the offensive material and openly admit that, while we can talk about and learn from it now, it was also always wrong.
There were also moves on Hulu in 2020 to address certain shows featuring content that white viewers now widely recognize as racist. First it was 30 Rock, with Tina Fey and co-creator Robert Carlock asking, alongside NBCUniversal (twist!), that several episodes featuring white actors in blackface be removed. It then happened again when Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, along with ABC Studios, asked for multiple episodes to be taken down for the same reason.
The difference here, of course, is Peacock and NBCU didn’t publicize the decision to make any changes to WWE programming. The initial report from fan site PWInsider made it clear that the changes were discovered by fans who sent in news tips detailing what was missing. The company that so publicly threw in with Fey and Carlock to ask for the removal of 30 Rock episodes on Hulu in 2020 is now taking steps of its own to clean up bad content, only without telling anyone.
Think about that for a moment. What would have happened here if fans hadn’t ever caught on to the missing material? Would NBCU have said anything at all? Or would future newcomers to WWE thumb through vintage episodes and events thinking it was just a (relatively speaking) wholesome good time?
It feels bad to think that edits made on the sly would allow the WWE to more easily sidestep its history of racist moments in the future. It also highlights the fact that maybe an outright removal of offensive material from the past isn’t the right move in these situations.
To be clear, it’s not for me to say what is right. I’m a white Jew who was born and raised in a U.S. suburb, so while I have plenty to say about anti-Semitic material — I think it should be preserved and made available in a way that provides context and educates — it’s not for me to weigh in on whether it’s appropriate to simply erase past instances of blackface or other racist acts.
That said, I think we can all probably agree that trying to avoid the past by simply pretending it didn’t happen ain’t it. I hope NBCUniversal is giving serious thought to how the excised WWE material should be handled. Because leaving that stuff on the cutting room floor and letting it fade into the recesses of history isn’t going to work when fans are willing and able to call it out — as they should.