Adeel Alam has had horrible things said to him.
“I think the worst thing that ever got yelled at me while performing was, ‘I thought we killed you Osama,’ ” Alam said in a CBS Evening News interview.
Alam, who wrestles as Ali in WWE (previously Mustafa Ali), talked about his efforts to fight stereotypes as a Muslim wrestler in an interview with Jim Axelrod that aired Wednesday night.
Alam was raised in Chicago by a Pakistani father and Indian mother. He is a former police officer with a wife and two children.
In the interview, he tells a story about wrestling on the independent circuit. He used to perform as a bad guy before getting signed by WWE, and one incident made him change how he portrayed himself in the ring.
“There was a young boy of maybe 6, 7 years old. He jumps out of his chair and he put both of his fists up. And it hit me like a ton of bricks right there. I go, ‘You just taught this kid to hate people that look like you,’” Alam said. “I’ve never felt more disgusted with myself.”
Alam is a member of the SmackDown roster and performs Friday nights on FOX. He has also wrestled on WWE’s “205 Live” show on the WWE Network.
