Arab-American Pro Wrestling Character KO'd
July 29, 2005 — -- Arab-American professional wrestler Muhammad Hassan, played by Italian-American Mark Copani for World Wrestling Entertainment, has seen his last day in the ring, according to a WWE spokesman.
The smackdown of Hassan during last weekend's "Great American Bash," an annual pay-per-view event, came after UPN and World Wrestling Entertainment received several letters and protests complaining that the character was an offensive stereotype of Arab-Americans and Muslims.
Hassan, whose storyline is that he's Arab-American born and raised in Detroit, rants and raves about being profiled and discriminated against, especially since Sept. 11, and is usually accompanied by other angry Arab-American men. An episode featuring Hassan that aired on July 7, the day of the terror attacks in London, turned out to be Hassan's ultimate undoing.
The sketch, which included five men dressed in ski masks and carrying Hassan's manager, Khosrow Daivari, over their heads in what appeared to be a funeral for a suicide bomber, convinced WWE to finally have Hassan, played by wrestler Copani of New York, taken out of the game permanently by wrestler Mark Callaway, aka the Undertaker.
"He was defeated by the Undertaker and will not return," said Gary Davis, a spokesman for WWE. "Under the circumstances it was a respectful way to tie up the storylines. We have done this with other characters as well.
"There's no question in our minds it was the unfortunate timing of that segment being on July 7 that was the ultimate issue with it," Davis said.
The segment was pulled from UK broadcasts. UPN spokeswoman Joanna Massey told The Associated Press, "We asked them to remove it because we thought that was the right thing to do."
There was no time for UPN to edit the program before it aired in the United States so it opted to put up an advisory to parents because of the bombings, said Davis.
"The whole point of the storyline and this character was to point out the injustices Arab-Americans have suffered since 9/11," Davis said.
But Imad Hamad, Michigan regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee who first became aware of the Hassan character when his 11-year-old daughter pulled him into the family room to catch a segment on TV, said the image of the angry Arab is dangerous.
"This image of a man who is screaming, yelling, pretending to be an angry Arab-American, Muslim, is full of hatred," Hamad said. "Some of the message behind the anger that Arab-Americans are unduly picked on was well-intentioned, but the form and shape it took is disturbing. It does not reflect the rich diversity that we pride ourselves with as a nation of immigrants and Americans."
Hassan was first featured in a match in January. He entered the ring with Arabic music blasting from the speakers along with Islamic calls to prayer.
In one clip on WWE's Web site, Hassan glowers into the camera and says "We are Arab-Americans and we demand the same rights that any American has. And if you don't give us the respect that we demand, then I will beat it out of anyone who gets in my way!"
Such stereotypes are nothing new in pro and entertainment wrestling. In the wake of the 1979-80 Iranian hostage crisis and continued tensions with Tehran, one of the most famous villains in professional wrestling was the Iron Sheik.
The Iron Sheik, who was in fact Iranian, defiantly waved an Iranian flag and sneered. He was world champion for a month and lost his title to uber-American idol Hulk Hogan.
"Hassan is just the latest in a series of storylines and characters in the WWE that have relevance to current events of the day," Davis said.
But to Hamad and his children their effect is a painful one.
"I was disgusted when I saw it," Hamad said. "I was offended and when my daughter, my children, said 'What are you going to do about it?' since they are used to me being politically active, it really hurt me. These things take time."