World Wrestling Entertainment has terminated the contract of Hall of Fame wrestler Hulk Hogan. The decision was made based on audio that surfaced from 8 years ago.
Hogan has been wiped from the WWE web site and eliminated from his current position on the USA reality television series “Tough Enough.”
The audio tapes relate to racist comments made by Hogan 8 years ago. The information appears to be a part of sealed information from the pending Gawker lawsuit in which Hogan sued the web site for releasing a sex tape. It would appear that the release of the audio tapes were done as retribution for the lawsuit.
Hogan has released a statement apologizing for the racist comments. The bad news for Hogan is that there are inferences that there is more audio coming out.
Payout Perspective:
Even though many people here are MMA fans, it’s clear that everyone knows Hulk Hogan. This makes the decision by the WWE to immediately distance itself from one of its biggest stars ever more surprising, yet appropriate. As a publicly traded company, the WWE did not want to come under fire for Hogan’s comments and suffer any financial repercussions. While its WWE Network is gaining traction with consumers, it’s still needs to find a way for the investment to break even. Negative publicity like this is not good for business. As for Hogan, his reputation is marred and he joins Bill Cosby as a pop culture figure of the 1980s who we now see in a different light.
Did Gawker have anything to do with the release of these tapes? Not sure. But, it will make the trial between Hogan and Gawker that much more contentious.
Wow, he just got ‘Mel Gibsoned’, this is the leaked transcript for those interested:
“I don’t know if Brooke was f*cking the black guy’s son”
“I mean, I don’t have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f*cking n*ggers. But then when it comes to nice people and sh*t, and whatever.” …
“I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f*ck some n*gger, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n*gger worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!
“I guess we’re all a little racist. Fucking n*gger.”
@Logical – LA Times had posted another video of him in an interview but it was not as damaging although there will be more to come. It will be interesting to see how much the WWE erases him from memory.
Oh Boy!!! Hulk, the New UFC star??????
Hulks not racist.
The other interview that’s on youtube was him with some black radio hosts talking about Booker T and when Hogan was partying with Birdman and Lil Wayne.
Hogan said they all kept callin him the N word so he got use to it and started using it him self when around them.
So maybe he was upset about something but Hogan aint no racist.
@ The Greatest, Yeah, only a non racist would say “I hate niggers.”