The following is an excerpt of the "WWF Newswire" in Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #584, cover-dated January 15, 2000 covering an incident involving Rock and the Opie & Anthony radio show.

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Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
January 10, 2000 - WWF Newswire
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #584
Cover dated: January 15, 2000

The Rock walked off of a New York radio show last week after confronting a co-host about racist comments he made on his website. The interview took place on the "Opie & Anthony" radio show on WNEW 102.7 in New York City last Thursday night. About 30 minutes or so into the interview, a frequent contributor to the show, Sickboy, who runs a wrestling website, joined the show to ask Rock questions. Rock had apparently been forewarned that Sickboy often contributes to the show and was told of racist comments that had been posted on the website.

The Rock (photo by Wade Keller, PWTorch)

Sickboy asked Rock a question, but Rock refused to answer, instead confronting Sickboy about the comments. Someone associated with Sickboy's website posted a mock interview with black athletes in the WWF. The "jokes" included a comment that Rock was half black and half Samoan and thus didn't know whether to rob houses or eat. There are also comments that Mark Henry is a monkey and Jacqueline is from the jungle. Rock refused to answer any of Sickboy's questions and, because the primary hosts were affiliated with him, decided not to deal with them anymore, either. Sickboy defended himself by saying he has 15 writers and didn't know those comments were posted.

Rock was professional, but adamant about his displeasure with the situation. He politely got up, thanked Opie and Anthony for their time, and quickly left the studio. After an impromptu commercial break, Sickboy apologized on the air. Opie and Anthony also apologized, but said they knew nothing about the website. Opie and Anthony have had Vince and Shane McMahon as guests in the past.

The next day, "Opie and Anthony" said they thought about things and were upset at Rock. They asked him to call them to explain how it's not hypocritical to be upset with the website comments, yet collect a paycheck from a company that promotes the Godfather character. Rock did not call.

"Opie and Anthony" were DJs in Boston, Mass. on WAAF and hosted a 3-7 p.m. drivetime afternoon show. They were fired for reporting Boston's mayor Thomas Menino had died in a car accident as part of an April Fool's joke a few years ago. Menino's sister-in-law heard the report and called family members to report the bad news, not knowing it was a prank. Other media outlets picked up on the story and reported it.

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