Kofi Kingston On Wanting To “Show Up For The Fight Against Social Injustice” In WWE
During a recent conversation with Into the Danger Zone , former WWE Champion and New Day member Kofi Kingston discussed the success The New Day has seen since forming in 2014. Kofi isn't shy in stating his belief that The New Day has become the greatest trio in WWE history.
"I do, and I almost kind of hesitated. I feel like, a lot of times, you're supposed to be humble with it and everything, but for me, I'm old now. I'm getting to the point where I don't really care what anybody thinks about me. I never really have but when I think about the things we've done — just off the top of my head: being able to go toe-to-toe with The Rock, the greatest speaker in the history of our company. The greatest motivator, trash talker, most popular man in the world. For us to toe-to-toe, granted it was three-on-one," Kofi recalled with a laugh. "So, it wasn't a fair fight but forget all the details. We won, we won.
"To be able to host WrestleMania, there's only a handful of actual talent on the roster that has been able to do that. There's just so many things that we've done. To have a food product sold by WWE after a, what, twenty-something year drought? And for it to be called Booty-O's? Like, you're selling this?" Kofi asked. "People are eating it, people are buying it, people are making signs. We've just really, again, been able to do some things that are groundbreaking.
"I haven't even gotten to our accolades yet: the longest reigning tag team champions, been the tag champions 11-times now. I don't know, I look at all that stuff and not that you should compare yourself to anybody else, but, like you said, being a group that has never had the desire to turn on one another... For The New Day, we chose to be together. They chose me to be in the group and then we formed this bond. So, I don't know, man, we wanted to be together."
At the height of the "Black Lives Matter" movement in 2020, The New Day members Kofi, Big E, and Xavier Woods showed their support by writing messages on their armbands, and even taking a knee during an episode of SmackDown. Kingston detailed the groups decision in their effort to support social injustices going on around the world.
"Use your celebrity for positivity and use your voice, you know? When you get to be in a position where you have eyes on you, it then becomes your responsibility to do what's right on that public platform so people see that," Kingston explained. "Because seeing is believing, it spreads, right? When people see you doing something that actually effects them in their life, you know, it means a lot. So we wanted to show our support for the African American community and show up for the fight against social injustice because, again, the more people that know, like, the more people are effected.
"And then they go and they act, so what we do is every important and we take that responsibility incredibly seriously, so it just felt like it was the right thing to do to show the unity that we don't stand for social injustice. We will not tolerate it, and it's important for people to know where we stand on those issues."
So what does the future hold outside of the ring for the former WWE Champion? Kofi is interested in continuing voicework for video games and television, as well as trying his hand at some character acting for the first time.
"So we've gotten the chance to do a lot of voiceover work with Gears of War, we were in Gears 5. Like, how did that even? How? Like, my mind is still blown. I'll see those pictures of the skins and everything, which is awesome. Oh my God, it's just crazy, you know? We've done that, gosh, there's just been a lot of voiceover work that we've done," Kofi noted. "And I had the opportunity to cross paths with some of the guys that do voice work for Dragon Ball, so, Funamation. I've gotten to go there and watched a session being filmed for, or recorded for My Hero Academia. So, I think, for me, I would love to do that. I would love to o voiceover work, especially for anime because I'm in so deep right now.
"I was in The Main Event, which was a Netflix movie which was essentially a kid, he wants to be a wrestler, and he finds a mask that gives him magic powers and he's able to do all these crazy moves. And I'm like his idol in the movie... Escape the Undertaker, which we just had come out on Netflix, was a little cool. My God, the set was awesome. That's also on Netflix, check that out. It's kind of a choose your own adventure situation where we're trying to escape The Undertaker's house, but we broke into his house, so we kind of deserve to not escape. So we've had a lot of experiences on set, which have been awesome. Even being on the new iteration of All That across from Kel Mitchell.
"In all these roles, I've had to play myself, so it's a little awkward. So it's like, 'Am I playing myself right? Would I say this?' And when you get directions, 'Uh, I wouldn't say that but I really want to.' So I really want to try it from the perspective of being a different character and immerse myself in the different experience. Because then I'll know for sure if that's something I want to do. But I just want to make sure that whatever it is that I do, whether it was to be in the film industry, that it was good. I don't want to do it just to do it. I want to do it the right way. I'm not arrogant enough to think that you can just jump from this industry to that industry because you're in front of a camera. It's completely different than what we do."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Into the Danger Zone with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.