[Note: After I wrote this piece, Ring of Honor issued a second statement regarding Jay Briscoe’s actions. As the column was accidentally made public earlier in the day before this statement was made public, it would be disingenuous for me to edit the response in as if it was a part of the original article. Besides, I feel that many of my points are still valid considering ROH’s response was only part of my column. Therefore, I have let the column stand as is and included a brief addendum at the end of the article. –Jeremy.]

Hello there. I, as you can very probably see from the byline on this (for now) one-shot column, am Jeremy Thomas. I’ve been a writer and columnist for 411mania for five years as of March and an editor on site since June of 2010. During that time I’ve written and contributed in some way as a columnist to every zone except the MMA Zone and the now-defunct Boxing Zone and contributed in other ways to those zones as well. Over time my regular contributions to the Wrestling Zone have waxed and waned from year to year, but I have always maintained a keen interest in sports entertainment and my involvement has always been a matter of how much time I had to focus and make sure that any opinion columns I provided were well thought-out and fully reasoned.

As I tend to be fairly busy, I don’t have the time for all the wrestling companies that I would like to follow. I am a regular follower of both WWE and TNA and though I often have criticisms about them (don’t we all?), I also wish both companies nothing but the best. When national wrestling exposure is on the rise, the industry as a whole follows. The more people that are interested in professional wrestling, the greater interest there is at the independent level, which means a greater demand for talent and good things for everyone involved. And this is important, as independent wrestling is exactly as important as wrestling on the national level; indy wrestling is the lifeblood of the industry and without it even WWE would eventually find its downfall. Without an important independent scene the state of professional wrestling atrophies, which is why–despite all the scoffing that many within the vaunted Internet Wrestling Community have for smaller promotions and their “vanilla midgets”–we need it so much.

As I said, I would love to be able to follow all of the promotions that operate on a regional, state or even local level, but as important as I find that aspect of wrestling I am simply unable to due to the amount of time I have in a week. As such, the amount of attention I am able to devote to companies like Ring of Honor, Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, CHIKARA and the like is limited. As a regular reporter of wrestling news on this site I keep up with what goes on as much as possible; I read show results, I watch promo and hype videos and sometimes, on the rare Saturdays that I am not busy with other things, I will take in an iPPV. It isn’t as often as I would like, but it does happen. Sometimes I have to watch replays after the fact because despite the fact that things have already been spoiled for me, I want to see the match. It isn’t necessarily the result that I want to see; I can get that in a quick PPV recap or show report. I want to see how it played out and enjoy the talent involved giving everything they have to entertain the fans.

One of these times was ROH Supercard of Honor, which took place last month. I already knew by the time I sat down to watch it that the Ring of Honor World Title had changed hands, and the new owner was Jay Briscoe. I didn’t want to see it so that I could learn what I already knew; I wanted to see a significant moment in ROH’s recent history, a title change that had fans significantly excited based on reactions online. ROH has had, between technical issues and a bit of a fall in creative, a rough time of it over the last year or so. This seemed like one of those events that could change all of that, and so I sat down to watch it and I wasn’t disappointed. The match was great and to be honest, the whole show was pretty fantastic. It seemed, at least in that moment, like everything could conceivably turn around for Ring of Honor and they could start delivering like the third-biggest wrestling company in the United States that they were.

And now, a month later, that excitement seems gone. And that’s not fair to Ring of Honor because the thing that has stolen my somewhat-rising interest in the promotion isn’t the company’s creative direction, per se; rather, it is the actions of the new face of the company in Jay Briscoe. But considering that Briscoe’s elevation was largely the catalyst for that rising interest, it’s probably not surprising.

Allow me to explain. For those who are unaware, on Wednesday the Delaware Senate passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Kind of odd to include that in an opinion piece about professional wrestling, until you see what followed. Briscoe, who is a resident of Delaware, took to his Twitter account and posted the following:

The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!!!!

… try and teach my kids that there’s nothing wrong with that and I’ll fucking shoot you

That dull thud you just heard? That was the sound of ROH fans around the world slamming their foreheads into their desks as they simultaneously cringed and said something that was probably unprintable under their breaths. As you may expect, the reaction from the internet was swift. Many took to Twitter calling out Briscoe for his comments while another, smaller contingent took to their own Twitter accounts to defend the ROH World Champion’s right to free speech. Predictably, Ring of Honor said that they were dealing with the situation and that a statement was coming shortly. However as of the end of Wednesday evening, that statement was not issued. Instead, Briscoe took to his Twitter once again on late Wednesday night to deliver the following message:

I feel very strongly about how and who should teach kids about certain things but I showed poor judgment by using that analogy and I’m sorry

Briscoe’s Twitter was deleted less than 30 minutes later. Ring of Honor finally addressed the issue with the following statement on Thursday morning:

Ring of Honor Wrestling respects and appreciates every fan regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference. The recent post by Jay Briscoe does not represent the views or opinions of Ring of Honor Wrestling, its owners, management or employees.

So, that’s the news portion of this column. What follows next is opinion. And it is my opinion, to be fair; it does not represent the thoughts of anyone else, any more than Jay Briscoe’s represent the thoughts of anyone else within Ring of Honor, including (necessarily) his tag team partner and wrestling “brother” Mark. Jay has the right to express his opinions as an individual; that is his First Amendment right, the freedom to express his opinions in speech without fear of the government censoring or punishing him.

It must be noted, however, that the above sentence is all that the First Amendment allows. Jay Briscoe cannot have his freedom of speech or expression infringed upon by the government, but it does not give him the right to expect that everyone just has to tolerate what he has to say. And I have neither the stomach nor the inclination to tolerate Briscoe’s comments. His Tweets were described as homophobic, but I consider that a disservice. To say that someone is “homophobic” implies that they speak out of fear; it is a word that has become synonymous with the word “intolerant.” What Briscoe posted, in essence, said that anyone who “teaches” his children that gay marriage is okay are likely to be murdered by him. That isn’t intolerance; that is hate speech. It is an overt threat and, as people who have called in fake threats to 911 or said in public that they wanted to kill the President have learned, threats are not protected speech. The First Amendment is not absolute in such instances. Even hyperbolic threats said in the heat of the moment have had consequences.

I have seen responses from several people who have defended Briscoe’s comments, and to their credit a lot of people have been quite rational in doing so. People can say what they want about 411mania’s comments section, but I have seen more rationality in how (for the most part) commenters on all sides handled this situation than many mainstream news sources’ message boards when it comes to such hot-button issues and I commend our readers for that. Some have argued that, as Briscoe said in his “apology” Tweet, he is only talking about those who would try to enforce their own moral values on his children. You hear the word “teach” in terms of social issues like gay marriage and you think of teachers with liberal agendas impressing said agendas on impressionable young minds. But how far would Briscoe consider that going? Would he consider, for example, it to be proselytization or teaching if his kid happened to hypothetically watch the upcoming season finale of Glee where one gay character plans to propose to another? That would make creator Ryan Murphy and actors Chris Colfer and Darren Criss potential targets of his. What if someone simply expresses that opinion in earshot of his kid; does that count? I can say this; if I had a child who happened to share a communications class with one of Briscoe’s kids there’s no way in hell I would let him stay in there, as I would get worried about where debate time would lead to.

Now obviously, these are all hypothetical situations, and frankly a bit over-the-top. I don’t know the age of Jay Briscoe’s children and I don’t imagine they get the chance to watch much Glee. I would hope that he differentiates someone discussing their personal opinion in his vicinity from the spread of propaganda. The point I am trying to make is that the term “teach” is vague by nature and by going off at the mouth in such a manner, he blurs the line between his violent, gun-happy wrestling character and his real life identity. That creates a potential culture of fear where people are afraid of what to say around him or his children because of what might happen. Notice that in his apology he didn’t say “I wouldn’t actually shoot anyone,” which leaves a pretty clear impression (right or wrong) that such is still an option. That’s hate speech by its very legal definition; it incites potential action against individuals by those who look up to Briscoe and may attempt to emulate him, and it intimidates members of the LGBTQ community into wanting to stay quiet. Even the Westboro Baptist Church don’t overtly threaten to shoot people with pro-gay opinions in defiance of the law; while they believe that homosexuality should be a capital crime, since it isn’t they instead leave it in the hands of their twisted version of God and perform their reprehensible actions after people have passed on. What the Ring of Honor World Champion posted to his Twitter in a seemingly off-the-cuff remark was frankly more egregious in its threat than anything I have heard from Fred Phelps and his abhorrent family for years. I don’t give a rat’s ass when Shirley Phelps-Roper screeches that her god is coming for me, because whatever god she believes in has nothing in common with my god. When someone threatens to shoot me personally instead of letting a higher power handle things? That’s when I get twitchy.

And let me be clear about one other thing; by no means am I suggesting that Briscoe is as abhorrent as those individuals. But it is also clear that this isn’t just a one-time, CM Punk or Bully Ray-style blunder. For one thing, CM Punk and Bully Ray said their comments within the confines of their characters and although they apologized for what were essentially stupid choices of heat-getting, we are clear on the fact that it was in character and delivered in the heat of the moment as part of an interaction with the crowd. I assume—that is to say, I desperately hope—that ROH is not running an angle on this, whether pre-conceived or as a reaction to the Tweets. Furthermore, this kind of comment is not unknown to Briscoe, who previously tweeted the following messages in the past couple of years:

Damn theres a lot of fags out in New York today #whatthefuck (June 26, 2011)

To all da hoes, sluts, skanks, he-shes, she-hes and homos that be whorin it up on da eastcoast… this hurricanes for you (August 27, 2011)

That last one, by the way, was in response to Hurricane Irene. When Jesse Helms, Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps and the like blame natural disasters on immorality and the LGBTQ community, we call them hate-mongers. Jay Briscoe doesn’t get a pass. Yes, he has every right to speak his mind, but members of the wrestling community who are justifiably offended have every right to call him out on it and to not watch Ring of Honor if they so choose. (I don’t choose such an option, for the record, though as I said I don’t get to watch a lot of it anyway so the effect is rather minimal in my case.)

What’s more, it is asinine for Ring of Honor to handle this with what is little more than a substandard corporate “hey, it wasn’t us” statement, and especially for a publicly-traded company like Sinclair Broadcast Group to let their subsidiary stand on such. Hell, I’m one of the guys calling them out and even I acknowledged at the start of this long-winded column that Jay Briscoe’s comments are not necessarily shared by anyone else in the company. At the very least they should have said that Briscoe was in the wrong for making such a post; instead they just sort of shrugged their shoulders and appeared to let it go. Compare this to what Dixie Carter said over Bully Ray’s comment, posting immediately on Twitter:

Heard @RealBully5150 made inappropriate comments to a fan in Chicago. This will not be tolerated. Sincere apologies on behalf of TNA.

That was the right way to handle things. Ring of Honor’s statement was milquetoast at best, a half-hearted attempt to placate angry people. Trust me, guys; it won’t work.

And as a side note, I must point out that it should not be lost on anyone at all how insanely stupid it is to express the desire to enact gun violence on those who “teach” in the wake of Sandy Hook. Again, freedom of speech does not mean that you can say what you want and we have to pretend that you didn’t say it, or that it’s okay. Expressing that you do not agree with gay marriage is one thing; we can differ on that opinion. Threatening violence crosses a line into bigotry that should not and cannot be tolerated.

The wrestling industry and its community of fans, quite frankly, are considered to be a lower class of person to most. No matter how many big-budget movies the Rock stars in, how many millions of dollars WWE makes on WrestleMania each year or how many people end up watching the WWE Network when it eventually launches, many people will always look down on those involved with wrestling. When you wear that CM Punk shirt, or do a Randy Savage impersonation, or line up outside a venue for an independent show, people who observe you will immediately dismiss you as someone of lower intelligence, cheap tastes and very little refinement. And one very large reason for that is the fact that stories like this one are so surprisingly (or, for non-wrestling fans, unsurprisingly) common. The Rock and his movie star image, Hulk Hogan and his iconic pop culture status, even John Cena and his Make-A-Wish charity…all of these are exceptions rather than the rule as far as anyone knows. And until we are able to come to a point where the faces of major promotions can avoid this kind of stupid behavior, it will continue to happen and the wrestling industry will remain the bastard stepchild of entertainment options, no matter how well it does for the USA Network and Spike TV.

I would like to say I hope that Jay Briscoe hasn’t damaged his career with this level of bigotry, because he is someone I enjoy watching as a performer. Unfortunately, I believe that he has. There was a rumor that the Briscoes had been shown some interest by WWE; if there was any truth to it then you can certainly kiss that goodbye. And it is difficult for me to imagine how someone who portrays the kind of character that Briscoe does can slough off comments that make him sound like…well, like an uneducated and bigoted redneck. Normally I am very steadfast in my opinion that someone’s personal life should not impact their professional life, but it is challenging to do so when said person’s personal life seems to fully jive with their professional character; this is why I wouldn’t want to see Mel Gibson portraying a racist, see a film song about misogyny by Chris Brown or see Steve Austin hit a woman in a film, wrestling show or any other capacity whatsoever. You can call it spiteful, but this one hits close to home for Briscoe and he pretty much took a crap where he eats in a metaphorical sense. What’s more, his apology was the kind of qualified statement that starts off with a defense of what he said, and this can and should be discounted as an apology. This puts Briscoe and ROH in a very difficult position, particularly considering how ROH handled it.

That being said, I hope that Ring of Honor or Sinclair deal with this in a more effective manner. I hope that Jay can learn something from this and move on. I’m not so naïve as to think he will change his thought process. I can hope though that he realizes how, as a recognizable figure in the current wrestling landscape, his words don’t just speak for him. Rather, they speak for the company that he represents as a champion. I can hope that he gets an idea of what it means to draw the ire of people for saying something that they found morally offensive, though I certainly hope that no one threatens him the way that he potentially did to other people. And maybe he can realize that yes, those who are the same gender and want to get married to each other—or just support other peoples’ right to do so—are people too, and deserve the same rights as he has; the rights that allow him to express himself so poorly as he did.

Do I think it’s likely? No, not really; history is not on his side. But I will still hope.

Update: Ring of Honor posted the following, vastly improved second statement later in the day on Thursday:

Jay Briscoe would like to again express his sincerest apologies and regrets to all, especially his young fans, for his recent hateful Twitter comment. Ring of Honor has insisted that Jay also make a public apology at the Ring of Honor event this Saturday night. Jay will address the public during the event.

In addition to this apology, Ring of Honor and Jay have agreed that he will donate his full pay from the next two Ring of Honor events to the Partners Against Hate charitable organization. Partners Against Hate was created to help prevent, deter, and reduce juvenile hate-related behavior.

That is the right way to handle it, and it gives me hope that this situation has been taken to heart by Briscoe. Kudos to Ring of Honor for handling it properly by the end of the day.

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