Post by Sam Kidsgrove on Jan 28, 2021 17:21:59 GMT -5
LINEAGE
By: S Kidsgrove
Written by: S Kidsgrove
FADE IN
INT - WHITE HOUSE PRESS ROOM
The throngs of the White House Press corps, abuzz with excitement due to the fact they can now do their jobs without the President calling them filth are gathered for the usual daily briefing. The door opens and instead of the new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki walking through the door SAM KIDSGROVE, Hollywood A-Lister and the light that leads the way strides through and stands at the podium.
KIDSGROVE
Good evening everyone! Yeah, I’m not your usual host, but Jen has graciously let me take part in this today due to the festivities taking part this weekend. Official White House business first? There is none. It’s Friday evening. Jen says you work too much anyway so let’s have a bit of fun and talk about a good ol’ fight instead. So here we are. Questions?
Kidsgrove points to a lady at the back.
KIDSGROVE
Jessica, CBS news.
JESSICA
I’m impressed you know the seating plan, you’ve done your homework.
KIDSGROVE
Thanks, I have a chart.
The room chuckles.
JESSICA
So, the first wrestling card on the Whitehouse Lawn? Nervous?
KIDSGROVE
Excited, more than anything. This is one of the great seats of law and Government in the world. I’ve been to this building and copies of it many times, but a fight on the lawn? That’s a first. Well, first without prop guns and explosions at least. But this is wrestling, who knows what’s gonna happen?
He points at the front row.
KIDSGROVE
Al, from NBC. How you doin man?
Al
I’m good, thanks. What do you think of your opposition this week? Since your match with Downfall you’ve gone on quite the opposite trajectory to him and Noris Cranley can never be counted out.
KIDSGROVE
Thanks for the question Al. It’s… Well it’s hard to quantify my feelings for these two men really. I try to live my life in positivity and love, I want to be a beacon of hope to millions around the world.
Al
That’s not an answer, come on, I’m gonna have to press you. You’ve said stuff about Downfall before.
KIDSGROVE
OK.
Kidsgrove pauses for a moment while deciding how best to respond to this, he flicks through one of the books he has on the podium.
KIDSGROVE
So we’re a couple of days out from Black History month in the states yeah? At least in the States. So I’m going to read to you a little passage from the late, great Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”
Powerful words right? I like to think I follow that ethos, or at least try to. I am facing Daniel and Noris this weekend with my position, prestige and life on the line. Make no mistake this one means so much to me. I get the chance to not only win the TV title, cementing my place in history by getting one step closer to that Grand Slam, but I get to poke the eye of both Philidor and the Lost Breed. That is, of course, if the lost Breed are even a thing any more after Daniel loses the title and Jimmy Harrison tries to cement-shoe him into the Potomac.I mean the writing’s on the wall, surely. Sanchez is in jail, Alice is back in the picture with Harrison and, well, he won’t let anyone get involved with Frank.
Kidsgrove looks at the quote again.
KIDSGROVE
So, the ultimate measure of a man? While I’m not going to stand here and disagree with Dr King here, pretty much on the eve of a month we celebrate his accomplishments. I'd like to add my own take, if you’ll indulge me.
To me, that quote is perfect, but it misses one key ingredient. Staying true to your name. Hemingway once said that a man dies twice. Once when your body dies and again when the last person speaks your name. If you guys want to know why I refuse to call Daniel Fehl Downfall the answer is simple. I do not respect anonymous cowards. I do not respect someone who hides behind a fake name like Fehl or Harrison or an avatar on Social Media like Cranley.
I am a proud man, everything I stand up for, everything I do, I put my name to it. Not like these fake new media types on Twitter, spending their whole day sniping to strangers and inciting insurrections behind an @ symbol because all they desire is chaos and the world to burn. They don’t use their real names because they are too craven to stand up and spread their hatred without the protection of anonymity. They are far too cowardly to stand by their convictions. Yeah, the detractors are gonna say actors do the same thing and sure, some of us do. We’re not perfect role models, some of us are absolutely horrendous human beings, but you know what? I don’t respect those either. If you have a podium to stand on to tell the world your story and your views, then you damn well should put your name to it.
After all, all a man has when he leaves this earth is his name. Nobody's gonna stand there at Fehl’s funeral uttering the words Downfall, nobody is even gonna be at Cranley’s when his Twitter account is disabled and his Facebook account is replaced with an in memoriam page.
Why is that? Because they are both cowards who hide behind fake identities and snipe from the sidelines at the people like me, who’ll hopefully be remembered for all the good they do in the world.
Sam Kidsgrove, that name will not die twice.
FADE OUT
END