“The Rock,” as actor Dwayne Johnson bills himself, was scheduled for a paid and advertised appearance before a paying “Wrestlemania” event. Admittedly, anyone who pays to see a farce like “Wrestlemania” is one who is fated to be “soon parted” from his money anyway, but nonetheless: Johsnon was two hours late showing for his gig. Unless one is a victim of a terrorist attack or suffers a ruptured aneurysm, there is never a good excuse for being two hours late to any professional appointment (for that matter, any private social engagement either).
As discussed in January when superannuated pop diva Madonna pulled this stunt, for some reason entertainers seem to think they have dispensation to behave like this. A lawyer who is two hours late for a trial is likely to be held in contempt. If I’m two hours late for a seminar I’m scheduled to teach, even once, I’m out of business. One time, in a play I was directing, the star was one hour late for pre-show call, then showed up 15 minutes before curtain. I told him to go home, that his understudy would play his part than night and maybe permanently.
But “The Rock’ decided that the correct response to the well-deserved booing he received from the crowd when he deigned to appear was to bathe himself in attitude, shift focus to a local football hero’s travails, and show no contrition whatsoever. I get it: he was playing a part, as behaving like an asshole is a long-observed staple of the professional wrestling world, and “Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness,” John Wayne’s credo in “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” later adopted by “NCIS” tough guy Jethro Gibbs ( Mark Harmon) as one of his “rules,” is part of the act.
I don’t care. The two-hour tardiness wasn’t part of the act. Johnson’s one ethical response was “I’m sorry.” Whoever advised him to act like an asshole should be fired, unless “The Rock” really is an asshole.
[Note: WordPress’s AI bot believes I should tag this “book review.”]
Ethics Alarms 