LOS ANGELES - Glenn Beck has reportedly turned down an opportunity to rumble with the WWE.
The wrestling organization invited Beck to appear on Monday’s show, after Beck took issue with new WWE character Zeb Colter, who he feels is “demonizing” the Tea Party.
“WWE is giving Beck the opportunity to address our 14 million weekly viewers and our global fan base, as he believes we are offending our ’conservative’ fans with this storyline,” the WWE said in a press release Friday.
TheBlaze.com reports Beck has responded to the request, saying "Unfortunately I am currently booked doing anything else."
Responding to the character - a hyper-patriotic, pro-deportation Vietnam vet - on his TheBlaze TV on Thursday, Beck slammed the WWE, predicting that the wrestling organization would alienate its audience.
“You’re making a villain out of what?” Beck pondered. “Probably 80% of your audience who’s tired as it is of being miscast? They’re tired of this.”
He also pondered the possibility that the organization had been infiltrated by the likes of liberal billionaire bogeyman George Soros.
“So may I ask: Did George Soros buy the WWE?” Beck said. “ I expect that from Hollywood, but I don’t expect - if I’m getting my entertainment from somebody that I think is on my side - and I’m sorry. I just don’t see a bunch of progressives going and buying their tickets to the WWE. Do you?”
The WWE counters that the creation of the Colter character is in line with its history of protagonists and antagonists, and was intended to both address contemporary topics and appeal to its considerable Latino audience.
“To create compelling and relevant content for our audience, it is important to incorporate current events into our storylines. WWE is creating a rivalry centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view,” the WWE said. “This storyline was developed to build the Mexican American character Del Rio into a hero given WWE’s large Latino base, which represents 20 percent of our audience.”
