What you gonna do when the Hulkster runs wildly racist on you?
If you’re WWE, you’re going to fire the company’s most iconic pro wrestler.
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan was body-slammed by WWE on Friday when it was revealed he went off on a racist tirade in his infamous sex tape that’s at the center of a lawsuit with Gawker, according to reports.
Hogan is heard spewing hate speech in a conversation about his daughter, Brooke, and her African-American boyfriend, sources told Radar Online and The National Enquirer:
“I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f–k some n—-r, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n—-r worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player! I guess we’re all a little racist. F–king n—-r.”
WWE has scrubbed Hogan from several online platforms, according to a report by Wresting Inc.: His profile was removed from the Alumni section of WWE’s website, related merchandise was removed from its online shop and Hogan was removed from the cast listing for Tough Enough, a WWE-produced reality series.
“WWE terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan),” said a statement from WWE. “WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide.”
Hogan followed with a boiler-plate apology later Friday morning.
“Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it,” Hogan said in a statement given to People magazine.
“This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs.”
Hogan first alluded to the discord with a cryptic tweet posted early Friday:
The backdrop for this controversy is the ongoing lawsuit in which Hogan — call him Terry Bollea in court, please — is suing Gawker Media for $100 million for invasion of privacy, after the website published a clip from the 2006 sex tape allegedly featuring Hogan and the then-wife of his then-best friend. The trial was set to start July 6, but was postponed with an October hearing and no new trial date.
Friday’s reputation-puncturing revelations about Hogan — whose stage persona exhorted kids to say their prayers and take their vitamins — surely help Gawker’s defense.
Hogan has a history with the n-word. Online wrestling forums dusted off a years-old radio interview on DJ Whoo’s SiriusXM show in which Hogan uses the slur several times in telling a story.
DJ Whoo Kidd asked: “You’ve been saying ‘brother’ for years. Any black guy ever say, ‘Yo, you my n—-r, you my n—-r, Hulk’?”
Hogan replied: “Well, Booker T [a black ex-wrestler] used to say that to me on TV, and, you know, every time I pull up YouTube there’s that famous thing that Booker T … goes, ‘I’m coming for you, my n—-r.’
“They’re all calling me n—-r, and then I started saying it and you know, I always said it, but now all of a sudden I get heat when I said it.”