From 2006 to 2012, disgraced Subway pitchman and alleged serial pedophile Jared Fogle appeared on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) television in sporadic appearances co-sponsored by the sandwich chain. Jared's presence was minor and mostly silent; he was the living conduit through which the wrestlers could obtain their coveted hoagies (these segments were exclusive to superstars who weren't actively seeking something more prestigious like,I don't know, a championship). His face would seesaw from grimace to wince through each appearance, as bully heel Wrestlers would threaten Jared in a manner apparently familiar to Mr. Fogle now in prison.
Though innocuous at the time, it's difficult to watch this now and not think immediately of the disturbing audio of Jared discussing his intent to seduce schoolchildren. Was he thinking about WWE's target audience, children, as they make up 21% of the fanbase? Will this appearance give him more credibility to the boys and girls upon whom he preys? How easy it is to say something as insightful yet meaningless as "he just looks like a pedophile?" Confirmation bias is a duplicitous spin doctor in our working memory; it's our "tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities." Our confirmation bias directs us to look for clues: a micro-expression that tells the whole story on the criminal's face before the crime had been committed. In the case of Jared, the search for clues is a futile one that does nothing more than cast a creepy shadow on a few awkward ads.
In 2008, WWE decided to go in a more family-friendly content direction after scoring a major partnership with toy-makers Mattel and to maintain a cleaner image for other potential sponsors after the Chris Benoit murders, thus allowing for sillier segments such as the above. Eagle-eyed and perpetually bored fans have attempted to pin-point the exact blow that knocked the "self-destruct" level in Benoit's brain. Which diving head-butt from the top of a ladder or cage was the one to scramble his noodle so severely that he would commit such an unspeakable act? As if such a thing could be deduced just so. A content warning now appears on WWE Network programming featuring Benoit that suggests a separation from the performer and performance; in other words, the fictional violent acts you are seeing is in no way attributable to the real-life violence that resulted in three deaths. It's a precarious position for the company: in the age of Wikipedia, to acknowledge the connection even in denial, sparks the same interest as would omission.
It's the same curiosity and obsession
with connecting these dots that makes American Crime Story: The People Vs. OJ Simpson so fascinating. We know 'The Juice' is getting off. The beats and catchphrases from this trail are now apart of new American folklore. Unlike the drama of a novel serial like Mad Men or a professional wrestling match, OJ's story as it's being told here, is hinged on the vague promise of insight, not the question of "what happens next?" We are now privy to the private discussions and moments of anguish and brilliance that anticipated the racial remarks, the glove, the verdict. We know where this is going, but twenty years later we are still desperate to find out why the foregone conclusion was not so in 1994, why what seems so obvious now was, to some, a mystery. American Crime story gives us the luxury or examining the faces of Simpson, Kardashian, Clark, Cochran (through proxies, of course) and the rest at their most vulnerable. And while, to date, Cuba Gooding Jr's OJ has yet to admit guilt on the program, his performance says otherwise.
Its hard to not feel like we aren't owed these answers, in some way. As if watching The Naked Gun, or Wrestlemania XX, or an ad for a Teriyaki Sub Promotion another time might tip us off to what was in front of this whole time. After all, monsters they may be, we invited them into our homes for so many years and we want to protect our loved ones from the same. The truth is, however, that looks can be deceiving and the obvious is only a myth we create to convince ourselves we knew better. We didn't.
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