In the wake of Thursday’s Dark Side of the Ring episode covering the May 2002 “Plane Ride from Hell”, a national campaign featuring Ric Flair has been placed on pause.
Mike Johnson of PWinsider.com reports that the CarShield campaign featuring Flair will be put on hold. The site obtained the following statement from the Intermedia ad agency:
We take these matters very seriously. As of right now, we are pausing the campaign and we will do our due diligence.
Johnson adds that there is no timetable for the spots to return and that the commercial “will soon disappear pending additional investigation and decisions.”
In the Dark Side of the Ring episode that aired on VICE TV, Flair was the subject of sexual allegations by Heidi Doyle, who was one of the flight attendants on the private charter flight in 2002 with the WWE crew that was performing events in Europe.
Doyle, who filed a lawsuit in 2004, stated that Flair exposed himself to her while she was cornered in an area of the plane with Flair taking her hand and making her touch his penis.
Last week, Flair appeared on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and stated he was aware of the episode being developed and planned to talk about it after it aired:
God, I’ve heard about it too. Just when things are going good for me.
Listen, you [Renee Paquette] put me on your podcast after. We’ll see how it plays out, because I was there and I don’t care whose name I gotta drop if the heat falls on me. I know who was where and what and who and what took place. I know the whole story.
