Eric Miller
Jesse Ventura, the former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler, says he agreed to do a show on Russia’s RT network because he was out of work and needed health-care insurance. “I can’t get a job in the U.S. No one will touch me. My United States union throws me in the dirt and who comes to the rescue? Russia,” he told the Associated Press. Ventura, whose 2015 show Off the Grid was aired on RT America, said Russian President Vladimir Putin reassured him his new show would not suffer from censorship on the Kremlin-run network. The show, The World According to Jesse, will provide Ventura’s commentary on a broad range of issues. Ventura described his plans for the show as a last resort after he lost his health insurance with the Screen Actors Guild and suffered a career setback from his 2014 defamation lawsuit against American Sniper author Chris Kyle, which triggered a wave of negative publicity. “I want to do it. But in some ways I was forced to do it,” Ventura told AP. RT announced the show in February and promised a premiere date in the spring, though Ventura says he has yet to film an episode for his 32-episode contract. The network said Ventura would take on “government hypocrisy and corporate deception.”