During an interview with Newsday promoting WWE’s recently released hardcover book on The New Day, Xavier Woods responded to accusations that his team’s habit of handing out pancakes to fans at ringside perpetuates a racial stereotype from the early 20th century.
Woods said The New Day’s love for pancakes has nothing to do with century-old literature and everything to do with a Lumberjack Match they participated in late last year.
“I said, ‘Well, if I’m a lumberjack, what do they eat? They eat flapjacks.’ It was hilarious. So, we said the next week, ‘Are we going to do pancakes? Yeah, sure. Why not?’ And that’s where the pancakes came from,” Woods said.
“If there’s ever any source of contention or anything like that, I think that it’s a situation where you should take a look at yourself and think about how deep you are looking into something that’s not really there.”
Woods adds that he and his partners, Big E and Kofi Kingston, are “very aware of how we present ourselves,” but also don’t want their wacky antics dissected under a racial lens “simply because we are African-American males.”
“All we want is a blank slate,” Woods said. “And if people continue to refuse to give us one, then they’re doing nothing more than continuing to hold up the social constructs that we’re trying to break down.”
Woods also explained the differences between himself, Big E and Kingston, as well as what fans can expect with The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.: From WWE’s The New Day. For the full article, click here.
