Following the news of his resignation from the NWA a comment made on this week’s episode of Power, Jim Cornette addressed the situation on his podcast this week.
On the episode, Cornette used a line during a match involving Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch where he noted:
Trevor Murdoch is mad, bad and dangerous to know. He’s the only man that I’ve ever known that can strap a bucket of fried chicken around his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia. Trevor Murdoch can take care of himself.
His defense was that it was not a joke about race but a joke about starvation citing the famine crisis in Ethiopia in the 80s. Cornette was unsure if he created the line or stole it from a comic but used it for Big Bubba Rogers and would repeat it on other episodes in the future. In reference to fried chicken, his defense was it sounded funnier than a ‘plate of sushi or a ham sandwich’.
Cornette outlined the timeline of receiving a phone call on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm from NWA Vice President David Lagana but only heard a dial tone. Cornette called back and left a message with Lagana with no idea of the controversy that erupted that night.
On Wednesday, he was made aware and spoke with Lagana over the matter. Cornette acknowledged getting heated and hanging up on Lagana, which he apologized to him for. Cornette’s issue was with the way the initial statement was worded that he felt cast Cornette guilty of something far worse and added that Lagana was the one editing the show and writing the apology yet didn’t include himself in the statement. Cornette didn’t appreciate being grouped into the apology and would have preferred wording to the effect of a bad joke being used and the editing process missing it.
When Cornette brought up that it was a taped episode and what Lagana initially thought of the line, the NWA Vice President stated the joke went right past him.
Cornette added that if he was told of the insensitive nature of the joke at the time, he used it, he would have been fine with them editing it off the program and would not use the line in the future.
He said that he apologized to those that had reasonable criticism of the line and were truly offended but not to those that he felt were irrational in their condemnation of him.
He closed by noting the sides going separate ways and it wasn’t fun anymore and it was best for him to leave but encouraged his listeners to keep watching the show.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has reported that the NWA tried to work out a solution that would allow Cornette to stay on. This included a potential sabbatical for Cornette or issuing an immediate apology, which Cornette did not appear eager to do either. Meltzer added that the NWA has edited other lines out and alluded to another line that made its way into an episode and received no criticism.
There is at least one more episode of Power that will air this week and were told there is a ‘floater episode’, meaning there may be an additional episode on December 3rd, but the however many episodes are left will still feature Cornette on commentary. The NWA’s next shows are Saturday, December 14th with their pay-per-view with tapings on December 15th and 16th.
