Politician Glenn Jacobs, the former WWE wrestler known as Kane, is being accused of hypocrisy on Twitter after denouncing all-ages drag shows.
In a tweet on Thursday, Jacobs, who has been the Republican Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee since 2018, vowed to do everything in his power to stop such events from taking place in his jurisdiction.
“Over the past couple days, my office has been flooded with calls concerning all-ages drag shows,” Jacobs wrote. “Let me be clear: I don’t care what consenting adults do, but leave kids out of it. As Mayor, I will do everything I can to ensure these events don’t happen on Knox County property.”
Twitter users quickly responded by pointing to the profession of wrestling, most notably the practice of cross-dressing among stars in the WWE.
“So no children will be allowed at WWE events?” one user asked above a picture of the retired wrestler Santino Marella.
Others highlighted the violent imagery regularly displayed in the profession, mainly the use of weapons such as steel chairs.
“anyways, here’s 10 ruthless chair shots Kane took to the head,” another user joked in a quote tweet.
Disturbing skits played out on WWE were also highlighted by countless users, including one in which a wrestler “named Sexual Chocolate impregnated a 75-year-old woman in a storyline in which she eventually gave birth to a human hand.”
“I was 10 years old when this happened. This was marketed to children,” NBC reporter Ben Collins wrote. “I’m fine now. Maybe sit this one out.”
But the most mentioned storyline appeared to be one in which Jacobs’ character kidnapped another wrestler’s girlfriend, raped her, and a put a hole in the condom in order to impregnate her.
“you were literally in a wrestling storyline where you raped a woman, got her pregnant, and then a man kicked a doll representing the stillborn baby across the arena. shut the fuck up,” one user added.
Repeated references were also made to beauty pageants held for young girls in Tennessee as well as legislation from the state aimed at removing age requirements from marriages.
“By ‘sexualization’, do you mean this?” one user asked. “‘Tennessee bill would eliminate age requirements for marriages.’”
Jacobs followed up by admitting that he did not actually possess the power to block private businesses from holding drag events.
“Currently, however, no law on the books gives me authority to address what happens in private businesses,” Jacobs wrote. “I do and will support any effort of our state legislature to prevent the sexualization of our children.”
The statement comes as conservatives increasingly focus on drag shows across the country. Earlier this week, a man threw a Molotov cocktail inside a donut shop in Oklahoma in the wake of its hosting a drag show.
