Mustafa Ali recently appeared as a guest on the "My Love Letter to Wrestling with Mark Andrews" podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the WWE veteran spoke about portraying the Muslim heel character for the company in the past and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On where the negativity in a heel character should originate: “If I’m [playing] a bad guy, I want to be a bad guy because I’m a bad person. Not because I’m a Muslim… If I’m jealous it’s just because I’m a jealous person.”
On playing the Muslim heel in the past: “I caved in and I did the character. I put the head garb on. I came out and cut these threatening promos about America. And what do you know? It worked.”
On the interaction that ultimately changed his approach: “I had a terrible fan experience where I feel like I taught a young kid to hate Muslims. Like I saw it in his eyes. I remember connecting eyes with him and going, ‘Man… I see the way he’s looking at me, and it’s not haha I’m gonna boo you. It’s like, aw you’re evil.’”
Check out the complete interview at Spotify.com.
