Warner Bros. Executive admits there was concern about moving ahead with Dana White’s Power Slap League

By Harry Kettle - January 24, 2023

An executive at Warner Bros has admitted that some were worried about moving ahead with Dana White’s Power Slap League.

Dana White, UFC

Despite the reservations of many, Dana White’s Power Slap show premiered earlier this month as planned. The idea was already under great scrutiny and then, to start off 2023, footage was released of White striking his wife at a club on New Year’s Eve.

The next steps for Power Slap, given the pressure, isn’t quite clear. For the time being, at least, it feels like it’ll continue to go on without incident.

However, that doesn’t mean that Warner Bros didn’t have serious questions about it going forward. During a recent panel, an executive named Kathleen Finch was asked about the controversy.

“Of course. Yes,” Finch said on concerns of airing Power Slap after White’s incident. “This is an experiment. The goal is, we are making shows for our fans, that’s who we work for. Fans of wrestling have a lot of overlap with the fans of this and it’s huge on social media so the idea really is, if we can take something that’s huge on social, bring it to a linear audience giving the fans what they want.

White’s big problem

“This may surprise you to know that I did not know much about wrestling before I took this job. I know, I seem like a wrestling fan, but I’m not. But I did have to learn a lot about the audience. A lot of families that watch [wrestling], I was very surprised to learn this. I have huge respect for this audience. AEW wrestling airs on two of our networks, TNT and TBS — on both nights it kills. Finding something that speaks to that audience, that would be gold.”

Quotes via Deadline

What do you think about the Dana White situation? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!


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Dana White UFC