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Former WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston spoke about how Vince McMahon wanted him to stay in character at all times during the former's initial run.
Kofi made his WWE main roster debut on the ECW brand in 2007 under a Jamaican gimmick. Since then, he has managed to capture multiple titles in the company, including the WWE Championship in 2019. He is currently a part of the popular stable known as "The New Day."
Mr. McMahon is the mastermind behind several characters, including the Jamaican persona of Kofi Kingston. On a recent episode of Out of Character with Ryan Satin, the New Day member opened up about his conversation with Vince on staying in character:
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"It was kind of an emotional roller coaster. So initially when I came in Vince was like "Hey look, you gotta do everything in character. I want every interview to be in character." So it was a silly situation because, you know, I'm not Jamaican but Vince McMahon said I had to put this accent on and we gotta play this game. I had to do an interview with this accent." (3:52 - 4:53)
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Kofi's initial character wasn't the highlight of his career, as he achieved several different accolades over time.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston on working with the Jamaican accent
Vince McMahon took a gamble when he made Kofi Kingston speak in a not-so-fluent Jamaican accent during the beginning of the latter's career.
WWE realized how the accent was not working for Kingston, but the promotion took a while to remove it altogether. In the same episode, Kingston mentioned the amount of hate he received for portraying a poor Jamaican accent on television:
"I got an interview with SOS by Kali buds. We did something where he's like legit from Bermuda. He's got a real accent. For those of you who are not Jamaican, know that my accent was garbage. It was terrible. All the Jamaicans were mad at me on MySpace talking about how bad the accent was and I knew it was bad but I didn't need to hear it but they keep on telling me." (4:53 - 5:16)
Kofi appears on WWE SmackDown as part of The New Day, and the team is currently embroiled in a feud with Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch. It will be interesting to see how this rivalry plays out in the weeks to come.
Kingston also mentioned how he worked with legends who helped him reach greater heights in his career. You can check it out here.
Do you think Kofi Kingston should have continued with the Jamaican accent? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Out of Character and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
