"That crossover of whether it's entertainment or news is the biggest crock of b.s. in television today, because it's all entertainment"
About this Quote
McMahon’s genius has always been to say the quiet part loud, then sell you a ticket to watch people argue about it. Calling the news/entertainment “crossover” a “crock of b.s.” isn’t just a hot take from a showman; it’s a flex from someone who built an empire on staged conflict that still feels “real” to its audience. The provocation works because it drags television’s favorite alibi into the light: every format insists it’s doing something higher than spectacle, even as it’s chasing the same metric - attention.
The specific intent is defensive and accusatory at once. McMahon is protecting the legitimacy of wrestling-as-entertainment by stripping legitimacy from everything else. If all TV is entertainment, then pro wrestling isn’t uniquely deceptive; it’s simply more honest about its contract with viewers. That reframes the moral panic around “fake” wrestling as selective outrage.
The subtext lands harder: the distinction between informing and thrilling is often a branding strategy, not a real ethical boundary. Cable news thrives on characters, villains, cliffhangers, and righteous indignation - narrative engines McMahon perfected. He’s also quietly describing how audiences behave. People don’t “consume information” so much as they pick identities, teams, and feelings, then let the screen validate them.
Context matters: McMahon spent decades fighting for cultural respectability while being accused of corrupting it. This line reads like retaliation from the margins that became the center: you mocked my circus, but you built your own, with better lighting and worse self-awareness.
The specific intent is defensive and accusatory at once. McMahon is protecting the legitimacy of wrestling-as-entertainment by stripping legitimacy from everything else. If all TV is entertainment, then pro wrestling isn’t uniquely deceptive; it’s simply more honest about its contract with viewers. That reframes the moral panic around “fake” wrestling as selective outrage.
The subtext lands harder: the distinction between informing and thrilling is often a branding strategy, not a real ethical boundary. Cable news thrives on characters, villains, cliffhangers, and righteous indignation - narrative engines McMahon perfected. He’s also quietly describing how audiences behave. People don’t “consume information” so much as they pick identities, teams, and feelings, then let the screen validate them.
Context matters: McMahon spent decades fighting for cultural respectability while being accused of corrupting it. This line reads like retaliation from the margins that became the center: you mocked my circus, but you built your own, with better lighting and worse self-awareness.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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