A statement from former WWE and AEW talent Maria Kanellis has drawn a pointed response on social media. Kanellis engaged with a fan over the weekend who labeled her a “dumb f–kin MAGA” person following a post she made about independent political thought. Her follow-up message pivoted away from the political charge, instead issuing a call for empathy.
The fan’s comment was posted in direct response to Kanellis’s initial statement. “God everyone from WWE ends up being dumb f–kin MAGA people. Never thought I’d find a reason to hate so many people. Y’all are like American Taliban, but act like you’re normal not radicalized hyper religious nationalists,” the user wrote.
In her follow-up post, Kanellis did not directly address the political labels but instead shared a message centered on compassion and perspective. “The woman lost her husband. And her children lost their dad. It’s sad. Empathy is a choice that I choose to make,” she stated. “When I was younger I thought I knew everything and it made me miserable. The older I get the more I realize how much I need to listen and accept. I’m a lot more at peace and yes I believe in God but not necessarily religion. You cannot take secondhand offense to everything it will make you miserable.”
The exchange began after Kanellis published her views on political discourse on Twitter. “Being a rebel nowadays is just not believing a party’s rhetoric 100%. Choosing to agree with some things and not with others no matter the party is having a system of beliefs, a moral code, and recognizing a higher power not rebellion,” she wrote in the original post. “I love my husband and my family but I don’t agree with them all the time. That would be insane and people would ask why I wasn’t more independent. Why isn’t it the same in politics?”
The fan’s assumption reflects a wider public association between prominent WWE figures and the MAGA movement. This connection is reinforced at the highest levels of the company, as WWE’s Vince McMahon maintains a long-standing relationship with Donald Trump, whose presidential cabinet once included McMahon’s wife, Linda McMahon.