, the WWE’s highest rating since March 2020. I saw the event in person in Philadelphia last week and I was struck by how much passion and emotion the show brought out in the sold-out crowd of more than 15,000. Every demographic you can think of was represented. Old, young, parents, children, white, Black, Latino, Asian-American. It didn’t surprise me when a WWE spokesperson told me that its franchise has the highest percentage of non-white fans of any major sport.
We live in a complex world that is emotional, unpredictable, dramatic, flawed, diverse and constantly changing. If media companies can’t offer that representation to their audience, their audience will find it somewhere else. Of course, there are plenty of people in the media industry who show their personalities, reveal what frustrates them and what encourages them, who are their true selves. They are unafraid to tell the truth and have built loyal followings over the years because the audience trusts them and perceives them to be authentic.