- Photo:
- Predator
- 20th Century Fox
Facts We Just Learned About Jesse Ventura
- Photo:
- Minnesota Historical Society
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
1As Governor Of Minnesota, He Refused To Return A Civil War Flag To Virginia
From Redditor u/turboPocky:
TIL During the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) Minnesota soldiers captured a Virginia... flag and returned it to Minnesota. Virginia has continuously asked for it back, prompting then [Minnesota] Gov. Jesse Ventura to say, “Why? We won... We took it. That makes it our heritage.”
Context: On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment made a valiant charge to protect the center of the Union line from Gen. James Longstreet's rebel forces. It was a desperate gambit to buy just a few minutes for the line to be reinforced, and it worked - but at a terrible cost. The unit suffered over 50% casualties. Nonetheless, they were ready to fight the next day. In this second engagement, Pvt. Marshall Sherman was able to seize the colors of the 28th Virginia Infantry, an act for which he was given the Medal of Honor. The flag remains in Minnesota to this day.
For decades, Virginia has requested the flag be returned, and Minnesota has repeatedly refused. In 2000, it was Gov. Ventura's job to make that denial.
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- 2
He Once Taught At Harvard
From Redditor u/leprecan61:
TIL Governor Jesse Ventura taught at Harvard University.
Context: Ventura is a fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. In 2004 he began teaching a series of seminars to Kennedy School students. In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Ventura admitted that "it is sort of an ego trip. I only went to high school and now I have the opportunity to teach at Harvard. Only in America."
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- Saturday Night's Main Event
- WWE
3He Tried To Unionize Pro Wrestling
From Redditor u/joe727:
TIL In 1986 Jesse "The Body" Ventura attempted to unionize the pro wrestling industry; it was promptly shut down after Hulk Hogan informed WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
Context: The WWE (formerly WWF) has long been criticized for its unfair treatment of wrestlers, who are denied employee status and considered "independent contractors" even though they are exclusively signed to the WWE. Ventura has repeatedly railed against the WWE's practices. In one interview, he said, "I can't figure out how [Vince McMahon] gets away with the federal government - in fact, he's lucky I didn't become a US senator. I would have started a senatorial investigation over it. [The wrestlers] are not independent contractors by any stretch of the imagination."
Back in 1986, before WrestleMania 2, Ventura gave a speech to rally his fellow wrestlers, urging them to unionize at that moment. Nothing came of it, and McMahon threatened to fire Ventura, who backed down but increasingly focused on other career opportunities. In 1990, Ventura and the WWF parted ways.
Interesting?- Photo:
- Photo:
- Predator
- 20th Century Fox
4Arnold Schwarzenegger Tricked Him In A Contest Of Biceps Size
From Redditor u/Da-Jesus:
TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger secretly tricked Jesse Ventura into thinking he had bigger biceps so that he could get him to bet a bottle of Champagne when they measured.
Context: As recounted in a behind-the-scenes video from Predator, Ventura bragged that his arm was 1 inch bigger than co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger's, according to a wardrobe measurement. Schwarzenegger said the whole thing was a ruse that he set up. "I told the wardrobe department they should tell him that," Schwarzenegger said, "so I can bet him a bottle of Champagne afterwards when he comes to the gym." According to Schwarzenegger, he won the Champagne after the second measurement showed his arm to be 3 inches bigger than Ventura's.
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He Was Sergeant-At-Arms For A Biker Club
From Redditor u/fadingthought:
TIL Jesse Ventura was the sergeant-at-arms for [a] chapter of the Mongols MC [Motorcycle Club].
Context: Ventura joined the San Diego chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in the 1970s as he was transitioning out of military life. In 2018, Ventura testified in the club's defense at a racketeering trial, insisting it was not a criminal operation. “I don’t regret [joining] ever,” he said. “It was a steppingstone for me between military and civilian life."
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6He Sued 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle
From a former Redditor:
TIL Jesse Ventura successfully sued "American Sniper" Chris Kyle for $1.8 [million] for fabricating an account of a fight between the two men.
Context: In his autobiography American Sniper, Chris Kyle wrote that Ventura insulted the SEALs at a California bar, and that Kyle punched him out in retaliation. Ventura, insisting the confrontation never happened, sued Kyle - and later Kyle's estate - initiating a five-year legal saga. A Minnesota jury awarded Ventura $1.8 million, but the verdict was thrown out in federal court. The defamation suit concluded with a settlement for an undisclosed sum awarded to Ventura.
Interesting?- 7
While Governor Of Minnesota, He Referred To The Media As 'Jackals'
From a former Redditor:
TIL while [g]overnor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura referred to journalists as "media jackals" and had the term inscribed on press passes to the governor's press area.
Context: While governor, Ventura had an adversarial relationship with the press. "He took umbrage at almost everything we reported," recalled Minnesota journalist Tom Hauser. "Even when it was positive, he would find a negative in what we were reporting because he couldn't get over the fact that we were jackals."
However, another reporter, Kerri Miller, added, "There was nothing ever malevolent about it."
Ventura's office distributed "Official Jackal" press passes to the Minnesota Capitol press corps. Some news organizations were angry and returned the badges; others leaned into the joke by making "Media Jackals" T-shirts for themselves.
Interesting? - 8
He Is Not Technically A Navy SEAL
From Redditor u/whywhy1:
TIL that Jesse Ventura is NOT a Navy Seal.
Context: Ventura enlisted in the US Navy and joined the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), a branch that was later combined with the SEALs after the Vietnam War. In a sense, Ventura can be said to have been grandfathered in as a SEAL, though it has been argued his training was not up to SEAL level.
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- The X-Files
- Fox
9He Had A Cameo With Alex Trebek As A 'Man In Black' on 'The X-Files'
From Redditor u/boxywalls:
TIL that Alex Trebek and Jesse Ventura guest-starred on an episode of The X-Files as The Men in Black.
Context: The third-season X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" is one of the series's most overtly comedic entries. It recounts Mulder and Scully's adventures as they investigate a Roswell-esque extraterrestrial incident. The investigation soon becomes a tangled web of hoaxes, unreliable narrators, and supposed government cover-ups. In one scene, an alleged UFO witness complains that he was shut up by a couple of "Men in Black" - who happen to be played by Ventura and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.
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He Had His Own Video Game (Almost)
From Redditor u/kballs:
TIL Jesse “The Body” Ventura had his own video game for the Sega Genesis.
Context: In a 1991 magazine ad from the Sega Genesis video game publisher DreamWorks (no connection to the later movie studio), one of the featured games is Jesse "The Body" Ventura Wrestling Superstars. The game, which was to be an American port of the Japanese title Thunder Pro Wrestling Retsuden, never made it to retail shelves. However, it did somehow find its way online, and you can see people playing it on YouTube.
Released or not, the game precipitated a rift between Ventura and WWF (later WWE) founder Vince McMahon. "I told Vince I was gonna do [the video game] and he said I couldn't," Ventura later recalled. "That's what caused us to separate... I said, 'Vince, you don't own me. I own the copyright of my own name. I can do with it what I want.' And he said, 'If you do this, you're finished.' I said, 'Okay, I'm finished.'"
Interesting?