WWE Apologizes For Using Auschwitz Footage To Promote Wrestlemania Match
gamespot.comThe wrestling giant WWE has apologized for using footage of Auschwitz in a promotional video package at Wrestlemania. The inclusion of the footage drew wide condemnation from fans and the staff of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, who called the apparent mistake a form of exploitation.
The fact that Auschwitz image was used to promote a WWE match is hard to call «an editing mistake». Exploiting the site that became a symbol of enormous human tragedy is shameless and insults the memory of all victims of Auschwitz.https://t.co/b4bbYgWPwj https://t.co/Xud4rbhEUS pic.twitter.com/tuJrzmK6mQ
The footage was used in a clip that hyped the Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio match at Wrestlemania, where a Dominik voiceover claimed that he served (in-storyline) «hard time» in jail. It has since been replaced with more generic prison imagery. In a statement to NBC News on Friday, April 7, WWE said the following: «We had no knowledge of what was depicted. As soon as we learned, it was removed immediately. We apologize for this error.»
The image of Auschwitz was noticed almost immediately by wrestling fans when it aired on Saturday, April 1 and quickly rose to the top of Reddit's SquaredCircle, a major community hub. Despite this, it took WWE nearly a full week to issue the apology. The most notorious death camps of the Nazi regime, Auschwitz's death toll is estimated at over a million people.
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