Andrew Yang says it’s not just a storyline — he’s still fighting for the rights of professional wrestlers that feel like they’ve been wronged.
Former United States Presidential candidate Andrew Yang posted the following statement on Thursday, revealing that he spoke with the Department of Labor and has an update on his fight to get fair treatment of pro wrestlers by WWE. Yang says he is still working on helping current and former WWE wrestlers that believe they’ve been treated unfairly by being considered as an “independent contractor” by the company.
“Had a call with the Department of Labor. If you are a current or former @WWE performer who feels you were misclassified as an independent contractor contact @lkmiddleb and let’s get you what Vince owes you. Been a long time coming but this storyline is real,” Yang wrote.
The lawyer Yang tagged is Lucas Middlebrook, who describes himself as a “union side labor attorney” that represents airline and sports-related groups.
One person replied that Yang tried to do the same thing about two years ago, but he didn’t follow through. Yang responded to that by noting the former Department of Labor manager was someone very close to Vince McMahon, but “times change.” Yang also added that there’s a big difference “between a performer or two trying to get redress individually versus a large group with a Labor Department that is now scrutinizing contractor misclassification.”
Yang previously spoke out about how WWE treats its performers, calling the independent contractor label “ridiculous.” Yang ripped on WWE last year after the company instituted its new policies preventing performers from using third-party apps to make profits.
At the time, he was in the running for the United States Secretary of Labor position and said even if he didn’t get the seat, he’s sure he’d be speaking with whoever had the role to “talk about the ridiculous classification of WWE wrestlers as independent contractors while controlling their name and likeness for years, even for something as benign as Cameo.” Yang was unsuccessful in getting the Secretary of Labor role (which is filled by Marty Walsh), but he’s still making good on his promise to fight for the performers of WWE.
Yang spoke to Chris Van Vliet about his issues with WWE’s business practices, which you can read more about here. Read more about WWE’s third-party ban, including their statement clarifying what the policy applies to, at this link.
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