Former WWE critic selected by Donald Trump to lead U.S. Agency for Global Media

L. Brent Bozell III, a fierce critic of WWE during its ‘Attitude Era’ has been chosen by incoming President Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Media Agency.

Bozell III founded the Media Research Center in 1987, which sought to identify ‘liberal bias’ in the media but garnered further attention among the pro wrestling industry in the late ‘90s. Over the past decade, Bozell has shifted from being a critic of Trump to pointing out the media’s bias against Trump.

President Trump has tapped Bozell to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which is pending a confirmation by the Senate. If confirmed, Bozell will oversee 4,000 employees in the agency and a $900 million annual budget.

Bozell also led the Parents Television Council (PTC), which identified its mission statement as “to promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry.”

WWE became an easy target for the group as it escalated its adult content during the Attitude Era and under the scope of the PTC once SmackDown premiered on UPN in 1999 and was available on broadcast television.

The group coordinated its efforts against sponsors of WWE’s programming and drew the ire of the company when attempting to link the July 1999 death of six-year-old Tiffany Eunick to professional wrestling. The PTC argued that the assailant, 12-year-old Lionel Tate, was mimicking pro wrestling moves on Eunick and was the cause but it was later revealed he was not imitating pro wrestling moves.

It was ammunition for WWE to fire back with a libel suit, resulting in the PTC settling for $3.5 million in 2002, acknowledging its false statements and being forced to publish a retraction. It was such a winning case that the PTC even agreed “never to interfere with WWE business relationships again (and) never to urge boycotts of WWE products or of products of WWE advertisers.”

Linda McMahon gave the following statement in July 2002:

We have always maintained that certain statements made about us by the PTC went beyond fair comment or criticism and were false defamatory and very unfair. We feel vindicated by this settlement.

Bozell’s son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was among those charged with attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. He was accused of pushing past police lines, shattering a windowpane, pursuing a Capitol police officer, and entering Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and going onto the Senate floor.

One of the legacies of the PTC was WWE’s creation of the Right to Censor (RTC) group in 2000 as a direct response to the council and its criticism of the show’s content. The group included performers Steven Richards, Val Venis, The Goodfather, Bull Buchanan, and Ivory.

About John Pollock 6009 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.