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WWE News: Shad Gaspard Accuses O'Neil and Young of Ripping off Cryme Tyme
June 6, 2012
Former WWE star Shad Gaspard, who was half of the tag team Cryme Tyme with JTG, wrote the following on Twitter regarding Titus O'Neil and Darren Young:
@Shadbeast: Wow... What type of un original person tries to bite off of Someone Else's gimmick? PRIME-TIME-PLAYER? MILLIONS OF DOLLORS? Really?
Besides accusing Titus O'Neil and Darren Young of ripping off Cryme Tyme's gimmick, Gaspard also bashed them via a rap.
You can read Shad's rap at his Twitter account or on WrestleZone.
In my opinion, there are some similarities between the teams, but I don't think O'Neil and Young have copied Cryme Tyme.
The similarities that I see between the two tag teams are as follows:
1) Both teams consist of black wrestlers and 2) Both teams consist of negative stereotypes.
Negative stereotypes? Yes.
As Derek McKinley wrote in his article entitled "From Brodus to Teddy: How WWE Has Morphed into a Modern-Day Minstrel Show,"
The more I watch, the more WWE seems like a great big minstrel show. Black characters especially seem to be forced into doing promos or angles that highlight a number of negative attributes specific to their race, whether intentional or not.
For instance,
You've got the emerging tag team of Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, who are consistently presented as young, disrespectful, jive-talking, culturally insensitive showboats.
So, is Prime Time Players a rip-off of Cryme Tyme?
Who cares?
Both gimmicks basically consist of stereotypes that no one should be proud of.
Share your thoughts!