I’m no Hulkamanic, far from it. I didn’t grow up watching Hogan in the WWF or WCW, so I have no bias towards Hogan. In fact, I should hate him for the way he used TNA from 2010-2013, but that’s a different story entirely. Regardless of all the negative stories I have heard of Hogan’s past, whether he was swinging, whether he was politicking, whether he completely forgot where he has (Wrestlemania XXX), his legacy cannot be forgotten, even if his reputation diminishes.
There’s no point in trying to block him from history, as he played such a huge part, you could never reference the history of wrestling. With that being said, I know there have been many updates on the site over the remarks Hogan made. Remarks made eight years ago when he was unaware he was being taped. It’s bad enough that somebody recorded private moments between Hogan and Heather Clem (Bubba The Love Sponge’s ex-wife), who were having sex with consent from Bubba, but to take it one step further and publish a private conversation is clearly a way for the media to make money by discrediting a celebrity.
Hulk Hogan is such a well-known celebrity, it’s rewarding for the media to put him under a microscope. Just like many celebrities these days, anything the media can use to discredit them will sell. They will find the smallest details and blow it out of proportion, then the collective mass of news reporting makes it sound worse than it is.
Before I go into this story in more detail, I would like to give an example of a recent “news” story which caught my eye. I’m English, so naturally I understand the ins-and-outs of the World Wars (thanks to history lessons in school) and the negative stigma behind anything resembling and glorifying the Nazi regime.
When I saw this story, I signed, tutted, and felt nothing but disgust for The Sun and any other news outlet which published the story. In this instance, someone had published a private video of the Queen when she was younger (girl in the middle), doing a Nazi salute. The Queen was upset by the story, and anyone with a functioning brain could see (from the video) the family appeared to be waving to someone, and using the salute in a joking manner.
Back in those days, there was no negative stigma behind the salute. It’s likely the adults where joking around, while the future Queen was merely copying and had no idea what it represented. While it’s true that Edward VIII may have been a Nazi sympathizer, that has nothing to do with the Queen, and clearly the story was used to discredit the Queen, showing that nobody is safe when you can take something out of context and blow it out of proportion. It’s the kind of low story the media will stoop to, to sell their product.
It’s all about the money, and somehow they get away with destroying people’s lives for their own gain. They will claim that everyone has a “right” to know these stories … but to be honest, I could have done without this in my life. It’s clearly an invasion of privacy, and all it tells you is that the family played around with a salute which would later become a symbol of the evil behind World War II.
Returning to the Hulk Hogan story, it was an invasion of privacy. There’s no telling of the context behind the words, whether he was inebriated, whether his hatred for the one person he talked about, came out in a manner which appeared like he was slandering a race of people. Let’s read what was said.
“She is making some real bad decisions now. My daughter
Brooke jumped sides on me. I spent $2-3 million on her music career,
I’ve done everything like a jackass for her.”
“The one option Brooke had, Brooke’s career besides me, is [to] sell beach records.”
“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***ers. 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***er,
I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n***er worth a hundred million
dollars! Like a basketball player! I guess we’re all a little racist. f–king n***er.”
Despite the comments, many in the business have defended him, including his own daughter Brooke. They say Hogan is not a racist, and there have been examples shown. Once again, something which appears bad at first glance, could easily have been taken out of context and blown out of proportion.
There’s been many examples of racism in the WWE, enough examples for a media outlet to make a huge deal out of it, but the media doesn’t make money by attacking companies, they attack individuals with wide popularity. It’s more personal that way, they can post a picture of the evil person who did it, they can point the finger and shame them. It’s harder for an individual to fight the media than a multi-million dollar company.
Once upon a time, I was researching racism in the WWE, and I was going to make a large article on the subject. I never finished it, and I scrapped the idea, but I did find an interesting video of a media outlet interviewing Mark Henry and Koko B. Ware (WWE Hall Of Famer) over the subject of racism. Naturally, as Mark Henry is a company man, defended WWE, while Koko B. Ware shared his experiences of racism in the business.
Koko believed the WWE was racist, not just towards African-Americans, but anyone who was not a white Caucasian American. Koko expressed how you needed to be white to get to the main event slot and get the best money, and Mark Henry did everything to defend WWE. The interviewer (who was also African-American), was surprisingly respectful (I’ve heard too many rude American reporters), and pointed out Henry’s contradictions. Mark didn’t have good enough answers and would make excuses, especially when asked why WWE has never crowned an African-American WWE Champion. After reading Henry’s comments over the recent Hogan story, it told me that Henry continues to be a company man, and will defend their actions as long as he remains employed.
You can watch the video below. It’s twenty-two minutes long, but its interesting to hear how defensive Henry is here. The interview was conducted just over a year ago. The video I posted below does not have the best video quality, if you would like better quality, you can watch the original video from its source at this link >>> http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/racism-wwe-wrestling-/53c01be002a760131f001011
And then you have Donald Trump, who is a WWE Hall Of Famer, and was recently quoted as saying
“When Mexico (meaning the Mexican Government) sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you (pointing to the audience). They’re not sending you (pointing again). They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs.They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people! But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably from the Middle East. But we don’t know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening. And it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop fast.”
And although those words have received much negative media attention, WWE has done nothing in response. TNA responded to Trump by having their X-Division Champion Tigre Uno talk about the comments. Tigre Uno (in his own language) told us how Mexico is full of good people, people who are doctors, plumbers, carpenters, and they contribute their skills to America. Tigre called Trump out and told him to come to the Impact Zone so Tigre could show him a real Mexican.
Tigre Uno is a luchador trained by Rey Mysterio Sr. And speaking of Rey Mysterio, has anyone noticed how Mysterio, the original Sin Cara (now known as Myzteziz) and Alberto Del Rio were dropped from the company in a short time frame? Mysterio was dropped after they purposely blocked him from leaving WWE for an extortionate amount of time, Myzteziz was dropped because of injuries and difficulites with his ring work, and as we all know, Del Rio was released because he defended himself from a racist WWE employee.
So WWE dropped everything to do with Hogan immediately after the story was published. Instead of waiting to find the details and the context behind the words, they decided to blacklist Hogan in a similar way they blacklisted CM Punk. WWE continues to show their paranoia over the subject, because the WWE knows it has been racist, not just on television, but behind closed doors. Has this racist environment been around in the WWE for decades? Not only did Hogan grow up in an era where racism was frequently used around the world without consequences, he worked for a company which has been labelled as racist by former wrestlers and fans.
Not only that, but Hogan mentioned how he would call everyone “nigger”, after Booker T and others used the word following Booker T’s famous “We’re comin’ for you nigga!” backstage interview in WCW. It was seen as an inside joke as Booker T did not mean to say the word, but they could see the humour in it. Instead of anyone getting offended, they laughed it off and continued to use the word. Many people continue to use the word today (whether they are African-American or not, but it’s rarely used in a racist manner. it’s an old word which isn’t immediately negative, unless you use it in such a way with violence.
I’m going to be honest here, my father has said many things about African-Americans (and other races) which, if you put it in a newspaper, would be considered racist. He’s not racist though, he comes from a time when racism was used without consequence, it was common to label and judge something/someone you didn’t understand. It was common to get angry and use the racist remarks to vent frustration, but you would never see my dad purposely attacking an African-American out of hatred for the colour of his skin, and I’m sure Hulk Hogan is the same way.
All I see when I read Hogan’s remarks is someone who was clearly frustrated with his daughter’s business decisions, someone who was likely drunk (or on drugs) in an atmosphere which allowed him to be comfortable to say whatever he liked. Instead of venting his frustration by slandering his daughter, he used a “black guy” and used “nigger” (a word used many times with his fellow wrestlers) as a way to get his anger out over his daughter’s decisions. His remarks were not directed towards any one individual, and the context of the words remain unclear. Did he seriously mean it when he said everyone was a “little racist”? Or was he joking? You can’t tell from the words alone.
Nevertheless, his reputation will continue to be dragged through the mud for the sake of the media, so they can line their pockets with a few extra bucks. Hogan is clearly sad and upset over the story, and has apologized. it shows that celebrities are not safe in today’s society, no matter where they are. You have to feel sorry for these individuals, who’s little mistakes are blown up into something which shouldn’t be newsworthy.
Hogan may not be the most likeable human being in the world (when he’s not being Hulk Hogan), but does he deserve to have his name dragged through the mud for something he said behind closed doors eight years ago? I don’t think so, and the more I read about it, the more I feel sorry for Hogan. And a few years ago, I had nothing but hatred for Hogan taking all the spotlight in TNA Wrestling, so I never thought I would feel sorry for him.
How do you feel? Do you think Hogan deserves this? Has the media blown it out of proportion? Should we ignore the story and move on? Has the WWE been too hasty with their approach? I will say, that I hope this story is quickly forgotten about, and Hogan is forgiven for something which he clearly didn’t mean. Thanks for reading.
