Maybe one of the most distasteful gimmicks in WWE history involved wrestler Mark Copani's repackaging as Arab-American wrestler-turned-semi terrorist Muhammad Hassan. Hassan stated in promos that he was angered by the increase in prejudiced treatment towards himself created by the 9/11 attacks. As well, he interrupted other wrestlers' promos by complaining about being held back due to anti-Arab prejudice. All of this was ever so slightly bad, but the real issue with Hassan came on July 4, 2005 when on an episode of Smackdown after losing to The Undertaker, five masked men armed with clubs and a piano wire beat and choked the Undertaker out with Hassan then putting The Undertaker in the camel clutch. The same week, terrorist bombings took place in London, and were deemed by the New York Post, TV Guide, Variety, and other major media outlets as being in poor taste. After much in the way of legal and TV haranguing, Copani's character was written off of WWE television by August 2005. By October 2005, Copani was released.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
