“I don’t even know if that’s PG.”

Those were the words uttered by WWE wrestler R-Truth on the latest episode of WWE’s flagship TV program, “Monday Night Raw,” that turned a special LGBTQ-affirming moment during a comical double wedding segment into a tacitly homophobic one on national television.

The line itself is innocuous enough, a meme borne out of a previous iteration of R-Truth’s character back in 2015 that has proven comical in the years since. But the context of its use on Monday spun the joke into a source of frustration for some LGBTQ viewers.

The segment in question featured the storyline wedding of on-screen WWE couples Akira Tozawa and Tamina and Reggie and Dana Brooke, a culmination of a plot focused around the WWE 24/7 championship. With R-Truth serving as the officiant, the couples played a game of musical chairs so to speak, switching partners multiple times after being asked if anyone objected.

One of those switches saw the four paired up in same-sex couples. While Tozawa and Reggie had varying reactions to their pairing, Tamina and Brooke shared a smile and held hands as the crowd and in-ring wedding parties cheered.

Among those cheering were out LGBTQ pro wrestlers Kayla Sparks and Eden von Engeland, both of whom were in the ring as extras portraying members of the wedding party. That moment is when R-Truth let the PG-meme line loose, adding, “Y’all are going to get me fired.”

The moment packed multiple issues regarding the treatment of LGBTQ identities into just a few seconds. The weighted focus put on the female couple spoke to the fetishization experienced by some sapphic individuals.

Questions about the motivation behind the crowd’s response to the image stick in the mind, considering an audible “Jerry, Jerry” chant preceded the same-sex switch, harkening the incredibly homophobic and transphobic specter of “Jerry Springer.”

But what stands above everything is R-Truth’s line, which suggested that the portrayal of same-sex and same-gender couples goes beyond WWE’s PG rating.

Two women making eyes at one another and holding hands at the altar needs further review apparently. The death glare delivered by Tamina following the line sums up the collective reaction.

“I was kind of bummed that was said,” Sparks told Outsports. “I don’t think R-Truth meant any ill will when he said it. I know WWE has a lot of control with what’s being said.

“I don’t know if WWE thinks same-sex weddings aren’t PG, but they specifically wanted me to stand where Dana and Tamina were, so I’m hoping they did it for a reason. From my personal experience, WWE has been really amazing to me and I’m hoping with the direction we are going in that they will have more LGBTQ+ representation on WWE.”

Sparks also noted that she has a good relationship with R-Truth and he has shown support to both her and the LGBTQ community.

Outsports reached out to WWE for comment but did not receive a response prior to press time.

Whether the line came off-the-cuff from R-Truth or from WWE’s team of writers that script its programming doesn’t matter as much as that it happened in the first place, especially in the wider cultural landscape that LGBTQ populations currently endure.

More than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills, the majority of which are anti-trans, have been introduced in legislatures across the country. Among those are attacks on marriage equality, including a failed Tennessee bill attempting to create a completely new, separate marriage process that explicitly excludes same-sex couples.

The issue also came up during Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing last month when Sen. John Cornyn questioned marriage equality and guaranteeing equal rights to LGBTQ people during a line of questioning.

If that wasn’t enough, there is also the reemergence of offensive and archaic references from a chorus of GOP lawmakers attempting to paint LGBTQ people as “pedophiles” and “groomers” that intensified after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, into law earlier this month.

The suggestion that same-sex and same-gender couples and marriages might cross beyond the commonly held definition of family-friendly programming only serves to fuel these talking points and empower those making such attacks.

This context appeared to go over the heads of a number of fans who simply viewed the comment as a reference back to WWE’s Attitude Era between 1997-2002, during which WWE regularly pushed the boundaries of its TV-14 rating.

Included in that era were some of the same issues derived from Monday’s segment but far more explicit: the fetishization of sapphic-coded women (Y’all remember the bisexual lesbians, right?), homophobic treatment of queer-coded characters and transphobia played off as comedy.

Throwing in a callback to that period during a brief moment of presenting same-sex couples isn’t a lighthearted, haha moment for LGBTQ people who grew up and lived through those flawed and offensive messages about themselves.

All around, the moment was another reminder of how some people in the WWE, at least in its programming, have historically seen the representation of LGBTQ people. There are still good forces within the company, such as Sonya Deville, who keep pushing for accurate, positive LGBTQ representation within WWE.

But part of that process is analyzing the words you use, their potential impact and internalizing such a mission beyond appearances on GLAAD’s purple carpet.

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