WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.609 So I want you to picture a monster. And I don't 00:00:02.609 --> 00:00:04.950 mean a, you know, a CGI creation stitched together 00:00:04.950 --> 00:00:06.710 on a hard drive. Right. Not some guy walking 00:00:06.710 --> 00:00:08.589 around in a rubber suit on a Hollywood backlot. 00:00:08.970 --> 00:00:12.089 Exactly. I want you to picture a real living, 00:00:12.089 --> 00:00:15.849 breathing giant. He's six foot seven. He weighs 00:00:15.849 --> 00:00:19.410 nearly 400 pounds and he is standing completely 00:00:19.410 --> 00:00:22.429 barefoot in the center of a brightly lit professional 00:00:22.429 --> 00:00:25.309 wrestling ring. And the thousands of people filling 00:00:25.309 --> 00:00:27.789 the arena around him, they aren't passively watching 00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:30.789 a movie screen. I mean, they are visceral. They're 00:00:30.789 --> 00:00:33.490 screaming. Yeah, they are completely and utterly 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:35.810 bought into the illusion that the man standing 00:00:35.810 --> 00:00:38.950 before them is this uncontrollable, terrifying 00:00:38.950 --> 00:00:41.429 force of nature. It's honestly incredible to 00:00:41.429 --> 00:00:44.310 watch old footage of it. It really is. Welcome 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:47.409 to today's Deep Dive. Today we are exploring 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:50.109 the life of James Arthur Harris, who is known 00:00:50.109 --> 00:00:52.609 to millions of professional wrestling fans across 00:00:52.609 --> 00:00:56.030 the globe by his wing name Kamala, the Ugandan 00:00:56.030 --> 00:00:58.729 giant. But our mission today isn't just to reminisce 00:00:58.729 --> 00:01:02.130 about a famous 1980s villain. No, not at all. 00:01:02.369 --> 00:01:05.209 We are taking the source material to unpack the 00:01:05.209 --> 00:01:08.489 really resilient, deeply complex human being 00:01:08.489 --> 00:01:10.769 who is hidden behind the war paint and the loin 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:14.209 cloth. Because the dichotomy of his life is staggering. 00:01:14.489 --> 00:01:16.510 I mean, he made his fortune playing a terrifying, 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:19.769 simple -minded savage on television. But the 00:01:19.769 --> 00:01:22.269 documents and the interviews detailing his real 00:01:22.269 --> 00:01:26.969 life reveal a man who was a singer -songwriter. 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:30.629 a blue collar survivor, and someone who constantly 00:01:30.629 --> 00:01:33.609 battled the grueling physical machinery of the 00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:35.670 entertainment industry. Yeah, it's a wild story. 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:37.930 So let's start with exactly where James Harris 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:40.730 came from, because his origins completely recontextualize 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:42.549 why he was willing to get thrown around a wooden 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:44.969 wrestling ring night after night. He was born 00:01:44.969 --> 00:01:48.090 in May 1950 in Senetovia, Mississippi. Right. 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.530 Into a family of sharecroppers. Yes. Which, you 00:01:50.530 --> 00:01:52.409 know, means they were crapped in an agricultural 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:54.450 system basically designed to keep workers in 00:01:54.450 --> 00:01:57.409 perpetual debt. Exactly. They farmed land they 00:01:57.409 --> 00:01:59.609 didn't own for just a tiny fraction of the profit. 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:02.349 And that systemic poverty was compounded by immediate, 00:02:02.689 --> 00:02:05.750 horrific tragedy right off the bat. Right, because 00:02:05.750 --> 00:02:08.629 when James was just four years old, his father 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:10.909 was shot dead during a dice game. Four years 00:02:10.909 --> 00:02:14.439 old, I mean... Instantly, whatever fragile financial 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.780 foundation the family had is just entirely shattered. 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.400 It's devastating. So as a youth, he's out there 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:23.919 working the fields just to help keep his mother 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.639 and his four sisters afloat. He ends up dropping 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:30.080 out of high school by the ninth grade. And with 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:33.039 essentially zero economic avenues available to 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.020 him, he turns to petty crime. Yeah, he becomes 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:39.259 a habitual burglar. Which leads to a really terrifying 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:42.939 climax in 1967. the local police intervene, but 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:45.300 not through the standard justice system. They 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:47.599 give him this brutal ultimatum. They explicitly 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:49.900 tell him to leave town. Right. The way Harris 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:51.939 described it later in his life, the police told 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:54.159 him that if he stuck around, he would be, quote, 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:57.759 found dead somewhere. Wow. I mean, that is chilling. 00:02:57.939 --> 00:03:00.639 It is. And you know, when you are a 17 -year 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.439 -old black man in the rural South in the 1960s 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.860 and the police threaten your life with that kind 00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:08.840 of specificity, the concept of physical danger 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:11.949 completely shifts. Oh, absolutely. Like taking 00:03:11.949 --> 00:03:14.409 a steel chair shot to the back or getting slammed 00:03:14.409 --> 00:03:17.330 onto a mat by a 300 pound wrestler probably looks 00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:20.270 like a massive step up in workplace safety compared 00:03:20.270 --> 00:03:22.229 to staying in Mississippi. What's fascinating 00:03:22.229 --> 00:03:25.430 here is how that primal need to survive dictates 00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:29.090 his entire trajectory. He flees, he relocates 00:03:29.090 --> 00:03:31.870 to Florida, and he survives purely on blue collar 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.389 grit. Just doing whatever he can. Picking fruit, 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:37.310 driving trucks. Eventually, he heads up north 00:03:37.310 --> 00:03:40.389 to Michigan. And that is where he finally catches 00:03:40.389 --> 00:03:44.009 a break. He meets wrestling legend Bobo Brazil 00:03:44.009 --> 00:03:47.289 and starts training under a man named Tiny Tim 00:03:47.289 --> 00:03:50.710 Hampton. And so by 1978, he officially makes 00:03:50.710 --> 00:03:53.129 his debut. But he doesn't debut as the monster 00:03:53.129 --> 00:03:56.050 we know today. Right. No war paint yet. He wrestles 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:58.770 under names like Sugar Bear Harris, Ugly Bear, 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:00.870 and the Mississippi Mauler. He's this massive, 00:04:01.069 --> 00:04:03.710 imposing guy. But he hasn't found that specific 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:06.229 hook that promoters can actually sell. And that 00:04:06.229 --> 00:04:08.810 hook actually arrives years later out of sheer 00:04:08.810 --> 00:04:12.389 desperate necessity. Like, in 1982, Harris is 00:04:12.389 --> 00:04:14.469 back in the States after working a stint in Europe, 00:04:14.909 --> 00:04:17.290 he's nursing a broken ankle, and he has absolutely 00:04:17.290 --> 00:04:19.930 no wrestling gear. None at all. So he travels 00:04:19.930 --> 00:04:22.389 to the Mid -South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, 00:04:22.829 --> 00:04:25.029 simply to borrow boots and tights from a friend 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:27.790 of his, a wrestler known as the Dream Machine. 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:30.370 He is quite literally just looking for clothes 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:33.399 so he can get back to work and eat. Right. but 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:36.019 it puts him on a collision course with Memphis 00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:38.800 wrestling promoters Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett. 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:40.879 And they look at his size, his presence, and 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.600 they just immediately offer him a job. But they 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.860 need a gimmick. They have to make them stand 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:49.160 out. So drawing on some old promotional ideas, 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.420 they mix it with visual inspiration from a Frank 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:54.620 Frazetta painting. Oh, Frazetta, yeah. For those 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:56.759 who don't know, Frazetta was an artist famous 00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:00.740 for these super intense muscular pulp fantasy 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:03.079 illustrations, like Conan the Barbarian -style 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:05.680 stuff. Exactly. And that becomes the blueprint 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:07.439 for Kamala, which, by the way, was originally 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:10.319 spelled with a K and later changed to an A. They 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:13.120 create this vicious, spear -wielding headhunter. 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:15.870 And the lengths they went to in order to protect 00:05:15.870 --> 00:05:17.769 that illusion, what the wrestling business calls 00:05:17.769 --> 00:05:20.009 kayfabe, are just wild. Oh, they went all in. 00:05:20.370 --> 00:05:22.550 Jarrett takes Harris out to his personal farm 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:24.990 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. They actually bring 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.949 in Dre Ice to simulate jungle steam. On a farm 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:30.709 in Tennessee. Right. And they shoot this grainy 00:05:30.709 --> 00:05:33.189 promotional vignette to make it look like Kamala 00:05:33.189 --> 00:05:36.649 is emerging from the deep African bush. And Harris 00:05:36.649 --> 00:05:39.029 committed to the bit with his entire life. I 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:41.120 mean... Jarrett instructed him to completely 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:44.259 abandon technical wrestling and just brawl, heavy 00:05:44.259 --> 00:05:46.879 chops, biting his opponents. No traditional holds 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.779 at all. Right. And to ensure no fan ever suspected 00:05:49.779 --> 00:05:52.519 he was just a regular guy from Mississippi, Harris 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:54.660 would wear traditional robes in public around 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.420 Memphis and completely refuse to speak a single 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:00.370 word of English. Which is incredible dedication. 00:06:00.730 --> 00:06:03.250 And that total commitment pays off massively. 00:06:03.449 --> 00:06:05.290 I mean, imagine being in the arena at that time. 00:06:05.589 --> 00:06:08.050 You're looking at a six foot seven, 380 pound 00:06:08.050 --> 00:06:10.569 man coming to the ring barefoot. Wearing nothing 00:06:10.569 --> 00:06:13.189 but a loin cloth. Exactly. His face is completely 00:06:13.189 --> 00:06:15.769 covered in war paint. He's carrying a spear and 00:06:15.769 --> 00:06:18.610 a wooden shield. He's got this distinct yellow 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:21.350 moon painted on his stomach and two stars painted 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:24.250 on his chest. And to complete the whole visual 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.649 presentation, the promoters always paired him 00:06:26.649 --> 00:06:29.209 with a handler. Right, like he needed to be controlled. 00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:31.569 Yeah, sometimes it was a masked figure in safari 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:34.269 clothing known as Kim Chi. Other times it was 00:06:34.269 --> 00:06:36.250 famous managers like Freddie Blassie, Skander 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:40.199 Akbar, or the Wizard. The entire theatrical setup 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:43.620 was designed to scream to the audience that this 00:06:43.620 --> 00:06:46.519 was an uncontrollable beast who had to be physically 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:49.459 restrained. They leaned into the theatrics so 00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:52.199 hard that they did a segment on the TV show Tuesday 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:54.920 Night Titans where they created the illusion 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:57.579 that Kamala devoured a live chicken right there 00:06:57.579 --> 00:06:59.519 on the set. Oh yeah, with the feathers flying 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.740 everywhere? Yeah. They used quick camera cuts 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:04.480 and had him spitting out real feathers. It made 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.040 him the ultimate monster for the biggest heroes 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:09.720 of the era to conquer. He wrestled Jake the Snake 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.860 Roberts, who exploited Kamala's supposed primal 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:15.959 fear of snakes. And Andre the Giant. They fought 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:19.180 in a steel cage match where Andre famously just 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:21.920 sat on Kamala's massive chest to win. Which is 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:24.399 an iconic visual. And he reached the absolute 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.220 pinnacle of the industry between 1986 and 87, 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:30.009 drawing thousands of fans and headlining a as 00:07:30.009 --> 00:07:32.550 like Madison Square Garden against Hulk Hogan. 00:07:33.050 --> 00:07:35.050 Okay so here's where it gets really interesting 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:37.029 though because we have to talk about the gimmick 00:07:37.029 --> 00:07:41.069 itself. I mean the Ugandan giant. To modern ears 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:43.730 that sounds wildly offensive and problematic. 00:07:43.850 --> 00:07:46.670 Oh absolutely. If we look at the mechanics of 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:49.449 1980s pop culture we have to examine what this 00:07:49.449 --> 00:07:52.750 character actually was. The source material references 00:07:52.750 --> 00:07:55.709 wrestling journalist Ryan Byers, who observed 00:07:55.709 --> 00:07:58.750 that the gimmick relied heavily on negative stereotypes 00:07:58.750 --> 00:08:01.850 of Africans and Black people. And that's exactly 00:08:01.850 --> 00:08:04.170 what the industry was doing, capitalizing on 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:06.829 pulp era archetypes. They took a Black man from 00:08:06.829 --> 00:08:09.069 Mississippi, stripped away his ability to speak, 00:08:09.509 --> 00:08:12.449 and packaged him as an exotic, uncivilized threat 00:08:12.449 --> 00:08:14.829 to be conquered by the all -American hero. It 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:17.189 really is a stark reflection of what sold tickets 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:19.959 in that era of entertainment. But even knowing 00:08:19.959 --> 00:08:22.560 how heavily it relied on those offensive tropes, 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:26.120 it begs the question, how did Harris make the 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.759 character endure for decades without it just 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.220 becoming a complete caricature? Honestly, it 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:33.919 was because of his raw talent as a physical actor. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.299 Byers makes a point to note that audiences truly 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:40.019 believed he was dangerous. He wasn't just wearing 00:08:40.019 --> 00:08:42.639 the paint. Right. He embodied. His facial expressions, 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:45.279 his erratic, unpolished movements in the ring, 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:49.200 his sheer intensity. He sold the danger. He elevated 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.860 a two -dimensional pulp concept into a terrifyingly 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:55.100 believable reality through physical mastery. 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:57.840 Yet, despite generating all that money and selling 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.100 out the biggest arenas in the world, the reality 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:01.740 behind the curtain was a completely different 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:05.539 story. Fast forward to 1992. Okay. Kamal is back 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:07.620 in the World Wrestling Federation, and he is 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:09.779 locked in a massive feud with The Undertaker. 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.399 They headline SummerSlam in August, and then 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:14.500 in November, they compete in the first -ever 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:16.700 televised casket match at the Survivor Series 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:20.029 pay -per -view. And a casket match is a massive 00:09:20.029 --> 00:09:23.450 theatrical spectacle. The literal objective is 00:09:23.450 --> 00:09:26.110 to beat your opponent into a coffin and physically 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:28.750 shut the lid. It's intense. It's the perfect 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:32.110 high -stakes conclusion to a feud between an 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:35.029 undead mortician and an unstoppable monster. 00:09:35.570 --> 00:09:39.629 Exactly. Huge stakes. Massive audience. But Harris 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:41.850 claimed that his payout for headlining that Summer 00:09:41.850 --> 00:09:47.100 Slime event was just $13 ,000. Wow. Now, to the 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:49.399 average person outside the industry, 13 grand 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:52.100 for one night of work in 1992 might sound pretty 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:55.179 good. But Harris alleged that the Undertaker 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:59.139 was paid $500 ,000 for that exact same match. 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:01.500 That is a staggering difference. To be clear, 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:03.879 prominent wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer questioned 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:06.919 that specific $500 ,000 figure. Right. He pushed 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:09.220 back on that. Yeah. Meltzer argued that a gap 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:11.659 of that magnitude just wouldn't make logical 00:10:11.659 --> 00:10:14.240 sense even within the skewed pay scales of professional 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.720 wrestling. But whether those exact numbers are 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:19.960 accurate or not, the core issue remains undisputed. 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:23.059 Harris consistently felt undervalued and underpaid 00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:25.299 relative to the money he was generating for the 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:27.720 company. And a huge part of that stems from the 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.440 business model itself. Professional wrestlers 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.480 are traditionally classified as independent contractors, 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:36.039 not employees. Which changes everything. It really 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:38.519 does. So Harris didn't have corporate health 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.039 care. He didn't have an employer matched pension. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.720 He didn't have a safety net. He paid his own 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:45.919 travel expenses and his own medical bills. He 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.320 was putting his body through unbelievable trauma, 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:51.200 generating millions in revenue for the promoters 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.259 and taking home just a fraction of the pie. Exactly 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:57.340 that independent contractor status is the crux 00:10:57.340 --> 00:10:59.960 of so many financial tragedies in this industry. 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:04.100 It explains why Harris abruptly quit the WWF 00:11:04.100 --> 00:11:07.879 multiple times, walking away in 1987, and again 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.340 in 1993, over pay disputes. He understood the 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:13.500 machine was going to grind him down, and he refused 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:15.460 to let it happen without a fight. OK, let's unpack 00:11:15.460 --> 00:11:17.799 this. Because right before he leaves in 1993, 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:20.980 the company decides to totally flip his character. 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:24.159 After years of portraying him as this terrifying, 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:27.639 chicken -eating savage, a manager named Reverend 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.840 Slick decides to turn Kamala into a good guy. 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:34.409 A fate. in wrestling terminology. Right. And 00:11:34.409 --> 00:11:36.350 the way they attempt to humanize him is just 00:11:36.350 --> 00:11:39.169 one of the most jarring tonal shifts in television 00:11:39.169 --> 00:11:41.649 history. I mean, it's like taking the terrifying 00:11:41.649 --> 00:11:44.309 monster out of a horror movie and suddenly dropping 00:11:44.309 --> 00:11:46.909 him into a multi -cam sitcom. Yeah. They run 00:11:46.909 --> 00:11:48.730 a series of vignettes where Kamel learns how 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:52.039 to go 10 -pin bowling. I'm not kidding. You take 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:54.659 this guy, who was built up as the equivalent 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:58.019 of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, and suddenly 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.340 he doesn't understand how to wear bowling shoes 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:03.279 and throws gutter balls for laughs. It completely 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.919 strips away the aura of the monster. It really 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.639 does. It highlights how disposable the character 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.840 was to the writers. When they couldn't figure 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:12.620 out what else to do with him, they turned him 00:12:12.620 --> 00:12:15.460 into a punchline. So Harris leaves the company 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:18.299 again, but instead of immediately jumping to 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:21.059 a rival wrestling promotion, he makes a really 00:12:21.059 --> 00:12:23.460 fascinating pivot. He takes the money he had 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:26.600 saved from his main event runs, buys two semi 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:29.620 -trailer trucks, and starts working as a commercial 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:31.899 truck driver. He essentially reverts right back 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:34.740 to his survival days in Florida. Despite reaching 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:37.600 the highest peaks of television fame, his blue 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.450 -collar instincts just never left him. He knew 00:12:40.450 --> 00:12:42.149 the wrestling industry wasn't going to protect 00:12:42.149 --> 00:12:45.070 his future, so he built his own safety net by 00:12:45.070 --> 00:12:46.909 returning to the skills he knew could pay the 00:12:46.909 --> 00:12:49.889 bills. And that instinct to survive becomes the 00:12:49.889 --> 00:12:53.350 defining theme of his later years. Because outside 00:12:53.350 --> 00:12:56.990 the wrestling ring... James Harris was hit with 00:12:56.990 --> 00:12:59.070 tragedies that required a level of endurance 00:12:59.070 --> 00:13:01.610 most of us just cannot fathom. Yeah, this part 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:05.649 is incredibly tough. It is. In July 1993, while 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:08.210 he was on a wrestling tour in California, he 00:13:08.210 --> 00:13:10.529 received the news that his youngest sister and 00:13:10.529 --> 00:13:13.110 her stepdaughter had been murdered. The details 00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:15.950 surrounding it are just devastating. The killer 00:13:15.950 --> 00:13:18.490 had attempted suicide but survived with severe 00:13:18.490 --> 00:13:21.100 disfigurement. Harris, who had just been released 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:23.980 from his WWF contract shortly after this, didn't 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:25.799 have a massive corporate apparatus supporting 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.980 him. He had to navigate the justice system and 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:30.639 his own grief entirely on his own. He dedicated 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.679 himself to pushing for the killer's conviction. 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:35.840 He fought the system and succeeded, securing 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.480 a life sentence. But he didn't stop there. He 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:41.080 actually stepped up to raise his surviving niece, 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:43.779 eventually bringing her to live with him. Wow. 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:47.200 The man the world saw as a mindless, unfeeling 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.740 brute was actually a grieving uncle fighting 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:52.259 for his family's survival in the wake of unimaginable 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:54.779 tragedy. And his response to that grief, coupled 00:13:54.779 --> 00:13:57.379 with his deep frustrations regarding his career, 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.980 found a completely unexpected outlet. Music. 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:04.299 Wait, really? The Ugandan giant wrote, performed, 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:06.320 and produced his own songs. Over a hundred of 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:09.139 them. Yeah. Starting in 1993, he began releasing 00:14:09.139 --> 00:14:11.480 his own music. Yeah. He eventually put out a 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:14.740 debut album titled The Best of Kamala Vol. 1 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.080 directly through his website. That is amazing. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.980 And the subject matter was deeply personal. He 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:22.259 wrote songs explicitly venting about the low 00:14:22.259 --> 00:14:25.259 pay, the broken promises, and the harsh working 00:14:25.259 --> 00:14:27.970 conditions of professional wrestling. He even 00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:30.330 wrote a ballad dedicated to the memory of Stanley 00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.789 Tookie Williams. Think about the poetic justice 00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:35.090 in that the industry literally forbade him from 00:14:35.090 --> 00:14:37.149 speaking English for a decade to protect his 00:14:37.149 --> 00:14:40.429 gimmick. They took away his voice? So he reclaims 00:14:40.429 --> 00:14:43.110 it by writing and producing over a hundred songs 00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:47.570 to tell his own story. It's beautiful. But unfortunately, 00:14:48.070 --> 00:14:50.309 the physical toll of his life was catching up 00:14:50.309 --> 00:14:53.519 to him rapidly. He had been battling high blood 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.639 pressure and diabetes since 1992. And again, 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.840 because of that lack of corporate health care, 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.480 managing those chronic conditions was a constant 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:05.240 uphill battle. By 2011, the complications from 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.779 diabetes grew so severe that he had to have his 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:10.940 left leg amputated below the knee. Oh, man. He 00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:13.799 initially refused dialysis treatment, which forced 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:15.980 his permanent retirement from the ring. And the 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:18.120 nightmare didn't end there. Just a few months 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:21.759 later, in April 2012, His right leg had to be 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.820 amputated as well. He became a double amputee. 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:27.059 He was a man who had made his entire living on 00:15:27.059 --> 00:15:30.179 his feet. He relied on his massive physical presence 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:33.019 to command arenas. Suddenly he was confined to 00:15:33.019 --> 00:15:35.899 a wheelchair, telling reporters in 2014 that 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.379 he was surviving solely on a monthly disability 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:41.059 check. But he still refused to quit. Because 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:43.399 he couldn't wrestle, he started making handmade 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:46.179 wooden chairs to sell. Yeah, just think about 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:49.399 the sheer logistics of that. A double amputee, 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:52.299 building functional furniture by hand, using 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.480 core strength and balance just to keep the lights 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:57.679 on and survive. That is just unreal. He also 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:59.679 turned to the community he had entertained for 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:04.059 decades. In 2014, he launched a Kickstarter campaign 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:07.399 to fund his autobiography, Kamala Speaks, which 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:09.279 he co -wrote with one of his former managers. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:11.539 Because he needed to pay those medical bills. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.419 Exactly. The goal was simply to pay his mounting 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:16.639 bills and finally tell his story, the story of 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.440 his childhood, his career, and the loss of his 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:21.720 legs. He was fighting on multiple fronts at all 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:25.559 times, too. In 2016, he even joined a class action 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:28.870 lawsuit against WWE. The suit alleged that the 00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.230 company actively concealed the long -term risks 00:16:31.230 --> 00:16:33.629 of traumatic brain injuries and concussions from 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:36.389 its performers. That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed 00:16:36.389 --> 00:16:40.009 by a judge in 2018. However, wrestling journalists 00:16:40.009 --> 00:16:42.409 noted a profound, heartbreaking consequence of 00:16:42.409 --> 00:16:45.570 his involvement. It very likely delayed WWE from 00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:47.269 inducting him into their Hall of Fame while he 00:16:47.269 --> 00:16:50.129 was still alive to appreciate the honor. That's 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:53.590 tragic. His final battle came in August 2020, 00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:56.330 right during the height of the COVID -19 pandemic. 00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:59.350 His wife stated that he likely contracted the 00:16:59.350 --> 00:17:01.710 virus during one of his mandatory weekly trips 00:17:01.710 --> 00:17:04.930 to the dialysis center. The virus exacerbated 00:17:04.930 --> 00:17:08.069 his already fragile health, and on August 9th, 00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:11.309 2020, James Harris went into cardiac arrest and 00:17:11.309 --> 00:17:14.319 passed away at the age of 70. But the impact 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.859 he made on his peers was undeniable. Shortly 00:17:16.859 --> 00:17:19.180 after his death, GoFundMe was established to 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:21.680 cover his funeral expenses and it just shattered 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.759 its goal. Fellow wrestling legend Chris Jericho 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:28.240 personally donated $5 ,000 to the fund. You know, 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.059 it's crazy. That wasn't even the first time Jericho 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.519 stepped up for him. Really? Yeah. A year prior, 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:36.740 Jericho had donated another $5 ,000 to save Harris' 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.700 house from being foreclosed on due to unpaid 00:17:39.700 --> 00:17:42.420 taxes. Oh! It speaks volumes about the quiet 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:44.440 brotherhood among the workers in that industry 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.700 who know exactly how hard the road is. Finally, 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.099 in April 2025, the industry officially recognized 00:17:52.170 --> 00:17:55.569 legacy, posthumously inducting James Harris into 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:59.490 the legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. A complicated, 00:17:59.890 --> 00:18:02.509 delayed, but absolutely essential recognition 00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:04.890 of his contributions. So what does this all mean 00:18:04.890 --> 00:18:07.869 for you, the listener? When you look at the totality 00:18:07.869 --> 00:18:10.809 of James Harris' life, it is an absolute master 00:18:10.809 --> 00:18:13.470 class in survival. He started as a terrified 00:18:13.470 --> 00:18:16.349 kid in Mississippi, running from the police under 00:18:16.349 --> 00:18:19.349 the threat of death. He molded himself into a 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:21.869 global icon, terrifying audiences in Madison 00:18:21.869 --> 00:18:24.170 Square Garden. And when the industry and his 00:18:24.170 --> 00:18:26.309 own body stripped away his livelihood and his 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:29.089 legs, he never lost his drive. He raised his 00:18:29.089 --> 00:18:31.630 family. He reclaimed his voice through his songs 00:18:31.630 --> 00:18:35.130 and he built his chairs. He was a man who constantly 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:37.829 built something profound out of nothing. If we 00:18:37.829 --> 00:18:40.609 connect this to the bigger picture, it permanently 00:18:40.609 --> 00:18:42.730 changes the way we should consume pop culture. 00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:45.670 This raises an important question. When we sit 00:18:45.670 --> 00:18:48.210 in an arena or look at a screen, cheering for 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:50.710 a hero or booing a villain, we almost always 00:18:50.710 --> 00:18:53.569 forget the deeply vulnerable human beings powering 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:56.930 those performances. If a man can endure the trauma 00:18:56.930 --> 00:18:59.670 of extreme childhood poverty, the murder of his 00:18:59.670 --> 00:19:02.369 family, the physical exploitation of an industry 00:19:02.369 --> 00:19:04.250 that treats him as an independent contractor, 00:19:04.700 --> 00:19:07.380 and the literal loss of his own limbs. You'd 00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:09.519 still find the soul to create art and the strength 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:11.900 to build chairs. What does that say about the 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.579 sheer boundless limits of human resilience? Next 00:19:14.579 --> 00:19:16.339 time you watch a monster performing for your 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:18.559 amusement, ask yourself, who is the real person 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:20.779 trapped inside that mask and what are they surviving 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:21.779 just to entertain you?