Paul Heyman said it himself last night on Raw; WWE is very image conscious.
So when the champion on its flagship program tells one of his Twitter followers, "kill yourself," it's not a good look.
That's exactly what happened yesterday after WWE Champion CM Punk tweeted in defense of gay marriage legalization. "Same sex marriage should be legal. The fact that it's illegal is embarrassing," a portion of his tweet read and it was, of course, met with the usual praise and the usual disdain.
One such voice of dissension replied to Punk by saying the "thought of homo's make me sick" which prompted the Straight Edge Superstar's less than cordial response. Another fan was told to "drink bleach" when he made his opposition to gay marriage known.
For several hours, there didn't seem to be any furor over the political back and forth but United Kingdom tabloid The Daily Mirror picked up on the story and mentioned Punk's homophohic outburst last summer during a tour of Australia. Some may find this as a sign of hypocrisy.
After Raw went off the air, Punk went back to Twitter to apologize for his harsh words either because he personally felt the need to (unlikely) or because (more likely) he was forced to by WWE brass.
"I was pretty worked up today. The amendment 1 situation had me all wound up. I stand by my thoughts on gay marriage 100%. How I defended... That stance was 100% wrong. I admit it. You can't stoop to others levels. Sometimes I fight fire with fire and it isn't ways the best way."
He also went on to say to the fan he wished death on, "I apologize. I don't want you to kill yourself. I want you to better yourself. Just as I want to better myself."
Kudos to Punk for sticking up for what he believes in but as he stated, the way he went about it could have used a bit more tact. When someone is in the public eye as much as he is, that means walking a thin line, especially when discussing anything as volatile as gay marriage.
I suppose this will be a lesson to Punk that sometimes pipe bombs can go off in your own hand.