Kofi Kingston Says ‘People Like Us’ Phrase Was Open-Ended For a Reason

– Kofi Kingston is slightly backing off the idea that his “People Like Us” comments were meant to be about race. Kingston appeared on Busted Open Radio as you can see in the video clip before, and talked about Big E. saying in the midst of Vince McMahon having it out for Kingston that “people like us” would only get so far in WWE. According to Kingston, the racial aspect is there but it’s more universal than that.

Kofi told the show, “We left it open-ended for a reason, and it means a lot of different things. For example, myself, I wear pigtails in the ring. I wear pink, I skip, I clap, I twerk. You know what I mean? And you don’t see someone like that in the main event scene.”

He did acknowledge that race was a factor, saying, “There is obviously the element of race concerned in it, right? Like, you haven’t seen many African-American champions hold major titles. So, that is definitely like, a big piece of it. So, I think what’s awesome about this whole storyline is that so many people can identify with it. Whether it be people who are, you know, like black children, who are looking at the screen, and they see black men doing excellent things, you know? And excelling, and doing excellent things. Now they believe that they can do excellent things. That’s a huge part of what we do, and it’s a huge element of pride that we take in being able to be that beacon of hope.”

He continued, “But also from the perspective that kind of transcends race is the fact that this is a legitimate eleven year journey. Like, it’s an eleven-year grind, you know what I mean? People like us, like people who work as hard as they possibly can. Who are told, ‘No,’ even before I became a WWE Superstar, I was told I was never going to make it because I wasn’t big enough. You know what I mean? I wasn’t strong enough, I wasn’t 6’8″. And here we are. You know what I’m saying? People who are always climbing obstacles, climbing mountains, only to find more mountains at the top of those mountains, and having to climb again. You know, ‘people like us’, it involves… it’s everybody who has struggled, you know what I’m saying? Everybody who has — you know, who has had a difficult time getting to where they want to be, and now they can look at us as examples of, ‘Hey, I can do this because they did it and I see it happening. Maybe I can do it, too.’ To be able to provide that motivation for anybody, you know, black, white, from anywhere. Anybody from anywhere can look to us and find that sense of motivation.”

"It's everybody who has struggled."

A lot has been made of the phrase "people like us" when it comes to the #KofiMania story heading into #WrestleMania but @TrueKofi says it was left open ended for a reason. pic.twitter.com/pDO5IobfIF

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) April 4, 2019