WWE producer Brian G. James — who is best known for his time in the ring as “Road Dogg” Jesse James — recently announced on Twitter he is quitting the social media platform. This comes days after he earned criticism for seemingly looking down on the practice of wearing masks as protection against the novel coronavirus.
In a Twitter post shared Tuesday afternoon, James did not reveal why he is leaving the site. Instead, he thanked the people who had “helped [him] along the way” as well as those he had assisted. The Hall of Famer concluded his post with several hashtags, including some that pertained to positive vibes and one that referenced the catchphrase of his iconic tag team with Billy Gunn, The New Age Outlaws.
According to WrestlingNews.co , there’s a possibility James decided to quit the platform because of the “negative feedback” he received for some of his recent posts, where he seemed to doubt the effectiveness of mask-wearing as a safeguard against COVID-19.
In one reply to a fan, he tweeted in the affirmative, agreeing with their opinion that “the Left” pushes an agenda of fear and makes people feel they will automatically get infected if they don’t wear a mask.
In response to the above post, former WWE producer Shane “Hurricane” Helms tweeted that while wearing seatbelts does not absolutely prevent deaths from vehicular accidents, the practice nonetheless “increases your odds of not dying.”
After James accused Helms of not being tolerant despite being a “woke” individual, the former Cruiserweight Champion fired back with another tweet where he encouraged the D-Generation X mainstay to stop supporting ignorant points of view.
“Never claimed to be woke, never had to. And tolerance of ignorance doesn’t help anyone. People’s lives are at stake, maybe you should try to ‘wake up’ if that makes you feel edgier.”
Additionally, James replied Monday night to a follower who compared his apparent stance about facial protection to the advice of medical professionals, who believe masks could prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In his tweet , the producer explained he “[wears] a mask” but doesn’t like doing so.
James’ decision to leave Twitter also came three months after he dealt with controversy regarding his social media comments about this year’s presidential candidates, as documented by Cageside Seats . In these posts, he expressed his support for Donald Trump, with one person tweeting a screenshot of a Facebook comment where he accused Democratic nominee Joe Biden of being racist and referred to Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, as a “leftist, Socialist president.” You can view the screenshot here .