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5. Graves: Virtual Signaling

That Corey Graves… he never misses an opportunity to put his foot in his mouth.

At the height of the tension between the original Bloodline members, right after Sami Zayn inadvertently booted Roman Reigns down with a Helluva Kick and pleaded his case to Jimmy Uso, Graves burst out with, “Sami never misses an opportunity to virtue signal. That’s what’s happening here.”

The problem here was that Zayn, who is Syrian, was wearing a keffiyeh. Sami has been outspoken about his support for Palestine, but he’s also been forced to drastically tone his political speech down on social media, despite WWE personalities Undertaker and Logan Paul actually interviewing a presidential candidate, with no visual reaction from the company.

Whether there was any implication that Zayn was “virtual signaling” by wearing a keffiyeh, Graves’ comments rang as odd and struck many as being pointed to Sami’s garb (which he has work in Saudi Arabia before) as a show of support for Palestinians. Graves’ choice of words was almost too on-the-nose to be coincidental here.

At best, it’s a poor choice of words that came across as having only one meaning. At worst, the dude should really think next time he starts riding Logan Paul’s johnson on commentary.