Friday’s episode of SmackDown saw commentator Michael Cole make a crude remark concerning Jim Ross’ long battle with Bell’s palsy. After Josh Mathews said Cole speaks out of both sides of his mouth, the esteemed “Voice of the WWE” quipped, “Actually, there is nothing wrong with my mouth, unlike J.R.’s.”
The WWE Hall of Famer took to Twitter to address Cole’s inappropriate remark.
“Hope Cole never gets ill. Sad commentary,” Ross wrote.
Ross then posted a tweet comparing Cole’s snide comment to Ed Ferrara’s parody of him in World Championship Wrestling as the character Oklahoma, which included a mockery of his modified voice due to Bell’s palsy.
“Pathetic cheap heat by Cole. On par with Ed Ferrara if you ask me. Ron White says “You Can’t Fix Stupid.”
Ross added that Cole’s ad lib was “ill advised” and that there are no announcer ‘scripts.’ A Twitter follower of J.R.’s placed the blame on Vince McMahon for the remark, since the WWE CEO typically feeds lines to Cole via headset to be said on-air. Ross, however, said McMahon was not on hand for Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Jacksonville, Florida—he was off visiting U.S. Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. J.R. instead places the blame on a ‘writer.’
“McMahon wasn’t at Smackdown,” Ross wrote. “So we can blame a ‘writer.’ that’s cowardly. Poor attempt to be a villain.”
It was not the only underhanded remark on Friday’s broadcast as Cole aired the long-standing joke among WWE employees that ring announcer Lilian Garcia’s face resembles that of a horse. Garcia has not commented on the matter.
