Recently in a controversial, as well as coincidental and unfortunate turn of events, on WWE\'s Smackdown! program that airs in the greater part of New York on UPN 9, the character Muhammad Hassan took part in a storyline with another character known as the Undertaker. In this storyline, Hassan, a wrestler of Arab descent, \"choked-out\" The Undertaker with help from several men who were dressed in black turtleneck shirts, fatigue pants, and black ski-masks. These men, although they really were by no means terrorists or even Arabian men, were seen as such. The storyline continued with the masked men carrying out in sacrificial fashion another Arab American character named Daivari. Controversial as that may be, the unfortunate coincidence of it all was that this aired on the same day as the London bombings, July 7th, 2005, later that evening. WWE pre-tapes its Thursday evening show which airs on UPN 9 at 8 P.M. on Tuesday\'s, so in reality, this storyline had already occurred before WWE or any of its employees & entertainers even knew about the unfortunate attacks on London later that week. This includes the man who portrays Muhammad Hassan on television. Muhammad Hassan is being singled out and being victimized by the coincidental occurrances of July 7th. UPN 9 has recently declared that they want nothing more to do with the character of Muhammad Hassan on their television programming, henceforth leaving the WWE in a creative bind. They are being forced now to completely remove and rid their very own programming of the Muhammad Hassan character altogether. This petition is to keep this character on TV. This petition is to keep the WWE\'s rights to broadcast their own talents on television, but more importantly this petition is to keep our own rights in tact. We as viewers of the WWE programming have the right to pick and choose what we watch, who we watch, when we want to watch it. The WWE is entitled to create whatever character and to portray that character in any fashion they so please as long as it is in good taste and not offensive to the majority of the viewers. I myself have been a viewer of WWE programming for over 15 years, and there have been many storylines that could have been considered offensive and went \"against the American grain\", but those characters weren\'t pushed off WWE television. in the early 1990\'s, WWE had Sgt. Slaughter who supported Iraq during the Gulf War. Was he banned from TV No he wasn\'t, and if he was, did WWE listen Certainly not, in fact he was their World Heavyweight Champion! In Late 2003 all the way through to the present 2005, WWE had character going by the name of \" La Resistance.\" These men were French Men/Supporters who were fully behind France and fully against The United States of America when France refused to be our allies in war. Did they get banned no. If they did, did WWE remove them off tv certainly not. In fact they became multi-time Tag Team champions for the company. These are just a few examples of many characters who over the years have been anti- american, such as the Muhammad Hassan character is. Hassan is an entertaining heel character that we love to hate, and he should not be denied his chance to practice his profession of choosing here in the United States. Therefore, I ask that you please put your name and where you are from on the list. Please forward this message to anyone you know is supportive of the WWE ans professional wrestling.Anyone who just would like to be of assistance, keep the petition going. Do not let the media control what we watch now. First it\'ll be Muhammad Hassan, then what We as fans of the product wish not to see Muhammad Hassan pushed off of programming, so this is our way of speaking out. This is directed to the WWE: DON\'T GIVE IN TO THE PRESSURE, KEEP HASSAN ON TV. HE\'S ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CREATIONS THE WWE CURRENTLY HAS. this is directed to the media and the public who want WWE to change their ways: LEAVE THE FANS OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING, THE WWE, AND MUHAMMAD HASSAN ALONE. LET US ENJOY WHAT THE WWE PRODUCES. IF YOU DON LIKE IT, DONT WATCH IT! I\'m sure there are many Arab American fans who are upset by this move and the loss of one of the few Arab American wrestlers there are right now. I\'m Puerto Rican, just for the record, and I know what\'s right and wrong here. Thank you all for your time, keep the message strong!

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