Hulk Hogan Says Racist Comments Were Not A Representation Of Who He Was

There is no doubt that Hulk Hogan is one of the most well-known pro wrestlers in the world of professional wrestling, with his influence in the business never being understated. However, his troubled past concerning racism has ultimately led to his downfall. Now it appears Hogan once again addressed his racist comments, stating that they were not a representation of who he was.

Back in 2015, Hulk Hogan’s reputation was ruined after his racist remarks surfaced on tape in 2015. The publicization of the tapes caused a big scandal which Hulk Hogan hasn’t fully recovered from.

The adult tape was recorded by his former friend Todd Clem a.k.a. Bubba the Love Sponge. In the tape, Hulk Hogan used racial slurs numerous times when describing his daughter Brooke’s ex-boyfriend.

Hulk Hogan would apologize for the comments and then filed a lawsuit against media outlet Gawker for posting portions of his adult tape. All of this led to WWE releasing him in 2015 and erasing him from WWE history for a few years.

While speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Hulk Hogan was asked about his racist comments and how they would affect his legacy in the end. Hogan stated that the racist comments were not a representation of who he was as a person.

There was a temporary situation where I thought, okay, where is this going to end up at? Where is this going to wind down? Where is the legacy? At the end of the day, there had been so much goodwill, you know, with the Hulk Hogan brand and people knew me so well. I mean I’ve been around for forty years and people know me so well from Mike Tyson, Brutus Beefcake to Vince McMahon, Verne Gagne to Bret Hart, everybody knows me so well that they knew I would come back and I would become the person that I was. There was a temporary situation with the surgeries, some of the racial stuff that went down. That was a speed bump but that’s not who I was, and everybody knew that. So, it was a tough time but the main thing that really got me over the past ten years was the surgeries that was the thing that was in question when you come out of a back surgery and someone tells you you’re never going to walk again. That will really screw your head up. The rest of the stuff, I had a bunch of people on my side, I had a huge support system and people that knew me stuck with me and it’s just been amazing to see how the fans have stayed with me.

Hulk Hogan will always remain one of the biggest names in the pro wrestling world, but that doesn’t mean his reputation has not been permanently tarnished. Regardless, he has accepted the error of his ways and that’s all that matters to him.