by Christian Duque
Okay note to self, never leave a microphone unattended no matter what the situation. This is a lesson that Mr Olympia Derek has had to learn the hard way. And this isn’t really something that can be attributed to the intricacies of modern day technology or social media; I mean not really. This is something that every public figure has had to be mindful of since pretty much the advent of radio and television. I mean the reality of the matter is that if you have a live microphone you never say anything until that thing is off of you.
I don’t care if there isn’t a red light blinking or not. I don’t care if there isn’t a connection that’s apparent or not. You take off the microphone before you say anything you don’t want the world to hear. Unfortunately when you get caught up in the whole rigmarole of the situation where you’ve got camera people and lighting people and you might have fellow competitors and fans and officials it’s easy to lose track of time, especially track of a little microscopic looking microphone clipped to your lapel.
That being said you still have to be very mindful of all of these little details. As they say – the devil is in the details. In any event, poor Derek has had to learn this lesson the hard way because about a week ago or two he was involved in an Olympia promotion where he was told to take his shirt off and pose with Nick Walker and Samson Dauda. Now we’re going to talk about the order to take his shirt off in a follow-up article that’s going to come out after this one. Because that is a whole other can of beans that we cannot just gloss over. With regard to the microphone, Derek had made some comments about these two competitors that honestly he probably would have hoped to God nobody would have heard. He didn’t realize his microphone was hot and unfortunately the big YouTubers broke the story and poor Derek is now looking like an asshole.
When it comes to the way that I write an article it’s almost like we’re having a conversation so please forgive me for what may appear to be a run-on sentence here or there. But let’s get down to the nitty gritty because that’s what you guys are here for. A bunch of different YouTube channels and websites have already broken the story. I’m not interested in breaking stories. I leave that to them because half the time they’re wrong and the other half of the time they look desperate for clicks because that’s how they make their money. We are not about that at this publication.I mean don’t get me wrong we love to get views and we love to have our articles read, but I feel like these articles stand the test of time. We have the luxury of seeing everybody else put their foot in their mouth before getting to the actual fact of the matter. So after all the dust has settled I can speak from an a vantage point of some pretty decent clarity. And I’ve got to tell you that Derek comes out of this looking really, really petty, really basic, and like a very arrogant and pompous jerk.
What’s crazy though is that’s not who he is, but just because he basically said that he didn’t want to be seen in pictures with two guys battling for third place, now the whole world thinks he is the epitome of conceitedness.
And of course all the big YouTube channels are going to push that agenda because what they want to do is create hostility and negativity because that is what’s going to fuel the trolls to leave really hateful comments. You know, Derek is one of the most humble guys in the industry. I know this because I’ve been at events with him from way back when and he’s always been somebody who really treats the fans and the media with respect. I can tell you that from firsthand experience. That being said, we’re all human right? He is the number one bodybuilder in the world. And I think that he also has some of the same feelings that many of us fans and media people have as well.
What do I mean by that exactly?
Well let’s talk about Nick Walker for example. Nick Walker look like a pile of shit in Pittsburgh. Even though Derek had to spend time with him backstage for that ridiculous interview with Tony Doherty for NPC News Online, it didn’t end there. In that interview Nick half jokingly half seriously told the champ he was going to take his title. Meanwhile, here is this guy not fully recovered from an injury, looking like crap, talking all this nonsense. and then he gets on stage in front of the president and the who’s who of the sport and looks again like crap. Then a week passes by and he goes to the New York Pro and he snags a win in one of the most controversial decisions of the last 10 years and here he is once again next to Derek and Derek is expected to take pictures with him??
I mean come on, what gives? We are talking about Mr Olympia here. We are talking about a guy who’s the ambassador of the sport to the world. He doesn’t want to be seen with this bum. I mean come on, Nick did not really win the New York Pro. He may have won on paper, but anybody with two eyes in their head that works and will tell you Martin Fitzwater is the uncrowned champion. Now if Martin Fitzwater had been in that room, I bet you Derek would not have had a problem posing next to him, but he doesn’t want to pose against the fake New York Pro champion. But everybody’s fixating on the comment about third place. I don’t think Derek would have a problem posing next to Samson. I think the real problem was Derek didn’t want to pose next to Nick. And with good reason also.
Again we’ve seen the Olympia promotions and there have already been quite a few. There is a concerted effort to create animosity between Nick Walker and Derek Lunsford in the hopes that this is going to blow out of control into this horrible feud that’s going to rock the social media world and whatever big websites are left in the sport. It’s sad but true. They need to have something more than a bodybuilding show in order to sell tickets. And not just any tickets either.
I mean we look at the Arnold Classic and we see what a top-notch webcast they offer for absolutely nothing. It’s 100% free. Then we look at the Olympia webcast and last year that thing was $80. Of course it’s going to go up because in this life things don’t drop in price over the years they only increase so we know that it’s going to probably be $85, $90 – maybe it’ll be a crispy Benjamin. Therefore they need to have something more than 12 or 15 oiled-up guys posing on stage. They need to have some drama, some excitement, and usually that does not come with positivity and camaraderie, rather, it comes with toxicity and negativity. They’re not going to get that out of Samson, but they’re certainly going to get it out of Nick. I mean they’re already getting it out of him.
The real question is going to be, is Derek going to play ball? He has already expressed disdain for having to pose for photos next to Nick, so what’s next? Maybe he will not need to have a hot mic unbeknownst to him to say what he really feels as time goes on. I don’t think Derek considers Nick to be a formidable challenger to his title nor do I think he thinks Samson can take his title away from him. I do think he recognizes Samson’s credentials and at least gives him the respect of playing ball to some extent, but I think in Derek’s estimation the only person that he is concerned about is Hadi and Hadi is practically disappearing from Olympia promotions. We’ve already talked a little bit about that in previous articles and I suppose we will talk about it more as it becomes more self-evident that the former Mr Olympia and current Arnold Classic Champion is basically being written out of relevance. In any event, it’s one of those situations where I think Derek regrets the embarrassment, but doesn’t necessarily regret what he said. I think he said what he meant and that’s just that.
I hope you enjoyed reading my article here at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste the URL to this great story on your social media feeds. I promise you it’s going to generate considerable conversation.
