On Monday, the US government declared the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as an “essential business” in Florida.
According to a report by Reuters, the mayor of Orange County, Jerry Demings said, “I think initially there was a review that was done and they were not initially deemed an essential business.”
The decision, which was outlined in a memo, dated April 9, from Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, allows WWE to tape live shows if the location is closed to the general public.
Questions are now being raised whether WWE is granted special exemption owing to relations between Trump and McMahons. President Donald Trump is a long-time friend of the McMahons, Vince and Linda McMahon, and the only President to be in WWE Hall of Fame. Linda has served as the 25th Administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.
In a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, a state-wide stay-at-home order has already been implemented. While WWE was not initially viewed as essential like grocery stores and pharmacies, it has since been given the green light.
Meanwhile, WWE told the news agency, "We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times. We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff."
United States remains the worst affected country in the world due the coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, as many 1334 died in the US because of coronavirus and 24,895 new cases were reported. The number was far less than the fatalities hovering around 2,000 for the past several days and over 30,000 new cases being reported daily.
So far 5.8 lakh Americans have tested positive with coronavirus, which is almost equal to the next four countries taken together: Spain (170,099), Italy (159,516), France (136,779) and Germany (130,772). The United States, which has emerged as the hotspot of the coronavirus globally, has so far reported 23,352 fatalities.
