Jake Atlas: ‘WWE Is Ready For LGBTQ+ Representation, But It Will Take The Right Person To Do It’
Jake Atlas believes that WWE is ready for more LGBTQ representation and admits that there is more he could have done to be the person to lead that charge while he was with the company.
Years ago, Stephanie McMahon stated that WWE programming would definitely soon reflect LGBTQ representation and characters. In 2021, there isn’t as much representation for that community as some would believe, and former NXT Superstar, Jake Atlas, who is openly gay, believes that the promotion is more than ready for that kind of representation but they’re going to need the right character to spearhead it all.
Speaking with Denis Salcedo, Jake expanded on his thoughts regarding the topic of queer representation in WWE and why he says he could have done more to be the person to spearhead that movement.
“As the person who is openly gay and coming into this brand with that behind him, I could have done more for myself, to speak up and kind of join the conversation and lead them to creating something, that could have been more for the brand. I was too late after I realized that I could and should have done that. I was too afraid, I was too shy, I was too closed off early on and I wanted to just do everything right that I didn’t think to speak up and say ‘well let’s actually talk about it, let’s have a conversation about this so that we can help so many people and kinda just bring a new perspective to the brand.’ I am not pointing fingers and I am not saying anything negative, everything is a two-way street. When they came this way, I should have fought back and said, ‘Well I think this.’ I do think they would have been completely receptive about it because I will say, WWE is more than ready for LGBTQ+ representation on their shows, and it’s just gonna take the right person to be able to do it. As the person who is openly gay and coming into this brand with that behind him, I could have done more for myself, to speak up and kind of join the conversation and lead them to creating something, that could have been more for the brand. I was too late after I realized that I could and should have done that. I was too afraid, I was too shy, I was too closed off early on and I wanted to just do everything right that I didn’t think to speak up and say ‘well let’s actually talk about it, let’s have a conversation about this so that we can help so many people and kinda just bring a new perspective to the brand.’”
He continued, “I am not pointing fingers and I am not saying anything negative, everything is a two-way street. When they came this way, I should have fought back and said, ‘Well I think this.’ I do think they would have been completely receptive about it because I will say, WWE is more than ready for LGBTQ+ representation on their shows, and it’s just gonna take the right person to be able to do it. As the person who is openly gay and coming into this brand with that behind him, I could have done more for myself, to speak up and kind of join the conversation and lead them to creating something, that could have been more for the brand. I was too late after I realized that I could and should have done that. I was too afraid, I was too shy, I was too closed off early on and I wanted to just do everything right that I didn’t think to speak up and say ‘well let’s actually talk about it, let’s have a conversation about this so that we can help so many people and kinda just bring a new perspective to the brand.’ I am not pointing fingers and I am not saying anything negative, everything is a two-way street. When they came this way, I should have fought back and said, ‘Well I think this.’ I do think they would have been completely receptive about it because I will say, WWE is more than ready for LGBTQ+ representation on their shows, and it’s just gonna take the right person to be able to do it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jake talks about how a COVID diagnosis led to mental health issues for him and how WWE took care of him during that process. Learn more here.
