| “ | Waaaaallllllbbbrrriiidge! | „ |
| ~ Grant Walbridge's famous catchphrase. |
Grant Walbridge is the main antagonist of the 2008 comedy film You Don't Mess with the Zohan. He is a corporate businessman and landlord of the Lower Manhattan area who plans to build a roller coaster mall within the area from the tenants' properties, which refers to those of the Israelis and the Palestinians.
He is portrayed by Michael Buffer, who is best known as the ring announcer for boxing and wrestling matches.
Biography[]
Walbridge first appeared as himself briefly at a red carpet scene from the Walbridge Hotel after Zohan, while as a limousine driver, picked up Henry Winkler to his destination at the aforementioned hotel, where he, along with the other guests, was shocked at the actor's arrival and vomiting from reckless driving.
Walbridge then discusses with his clients about the recently failed vandalism attack, though this caused the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian tenants to happen, where it was revealed that he was the one behind it. He then asks them about their experiences regarding the foreign tenants (whom he hated), which he was also upset about. Determined to build his desired mall, he threatens them that if they failed their duties, they will be replaced.
Walbridge later hired a couple of white supremacists, led by James T. O'Skanlon, to terrorize the foreign tenants' properties. They dressed up as pseudo-Middle Eastern people while doing it. The massacre caused a very intense conflict (much worse than before) between the foreigners themselves, bickering each other that they are at fault regarding the occurrences.
After Zohan made the foreign tenants end their conflict with the help of Dalia by burying the hatchet between his rival (and also her brother) Phantom, the foreigners later found out that it was Grant Walbridge who was behind the attacks, believing that he's the one causing the conflict between them. The former adversaries then fought off the attacking supremacists hired by him. While this, Nasi reveals live on TV during an interview that it was Walbridge who planned the attacks.
Upset about the revelation, Walbridge approaches to the scene with his fiance and tries to reason them out. Unfortunately for him, her breasts deflated from "the Sound" made by Zohan and Phantom, causing him to have a meltdown. The police also arrived with them and arrested him for his unlawful acts.
Trivia[]
- Walbridge acts as a negative reflection to both ex-rivals Zohan Dvir and Phantom Hakbarah:
- For Zohan, both men have dreams to do something different besides just having their original careers (Zohan, for wanting to become a hairdresser; Walbridge, for wishing to build a roller-coaster mall). However, Zohan's approach in pursuing his hairstyling dreams also required peace, while Walbridge tried to implement his own dream of having a roller-coaster mall with the deliberate use of conflict, and in both cases, they heavily involve both the Israelis and the Palestinians. If Zohan never pursued his personal dream more easily and properly, he'd end up like Walbridge.
- For Phantom, they had encouraged others from their respective national or ethnic kinds (Phantom is Palestinian; Walbridge is American) to express aversion to those who are racially different from them. But, once Phantom knew that Zohan doesn't want to fight with him anymore, and after making a peace treaty with his old rival, he has since shed his antipathetic attitude against other racial groups, especially towards the Israelis (in which Zohan himself is one of them). Meanwhile, Walbridge kept expressing his own negativity towards the Middle Easterners while his plans for building his roller-coaster mall are being enacted, which soon lead to his downfall. Walbridge represents what Phantom could've been if the latter wasn't able to learn sooner about the importance of racial harmony.
