wrestling / Columns

Whatcha Gonna Do?!? On Hulk Hogan’s (Alleged) Racism and Wrestling Fandom

July 27, 2015 | Posted by Wyatt Beougher

Introduction: By the time this column goes live, Hulk Hogan’s conversation during what he believed to be an intimate moment will have been dissected and debated almost endlessly. While I personally have no love lost for the Hulkster, I am here to advocate a more moderate course of action – whatever your feelings towards the man or what he said, don’t let that change your perception or memories of the sport.

Confession time: I was, at one point in my young life, a Hulkamaniac. That love quickly transitioned to the Randy Savages and Ricky Steamboats of this world, and by the time WWE acquired WCW in 2001 and Hogan got around to making his eventual goodwill tour return, I was already fully aware that he was a terrible human being who had arguably done as much damage as benefit to the wrestling business. His awful reality show (that my girlfriend at the time absolutely loved, and consequently, subjected me to) did little to change my opinion, as it merely served to illustrate how out-of-touch with reality Terry Bollea really was and also showed that he wasn’t a particularly good husband or father, content to throw money at his wife and children and indulge far more of their whims than were actually healthy.

Still, though, to say that this week’s news was unsurprising to me would not be entirely true; sure, the racist comments made during pillow talk with his then-best friend’s wife were pretty much what I would have expected from Hogan, but I am honestly surprised that WWE did not cut ties with him well prior to this. Granted, Hogan is one of the biggest stars in wrestling’s history, and he was a huge part of the WWF’s rise to national popularity in the 80’s, but it occurs to me that a highly-publicized, high-profile lawsuit regarding a sex tape is almost exactly the kind of thing that could cause the daughters of Executive Vice President (Talent/Live Events/Creative) Triple H to Google a WWE Hall of Famer and get far, far more than they bargained for. Even if the offending video itself has never been released in full, and even if Gawker’s edited, 101-minute version of it has been pulled, as of this writing, AJ Daulerio’s play-by-play write-up of it still comes up on the first page of search results, and that is even with the top half of the results page now dominated with news of Hogan’s dismissal from WWE.

To be clear, even my dislike for Hogan is not enough for me to completely dump on him here. No, I don’t agree with what he said, as I grew up in a pretty racist part of western Pennsylvania that still has not completely given up on old bigotry, a place where comments like Hogan’s would likely still be fairly common to hear from someone near his age. I have seen firsthand how damaging that kind of hate-based belief system can be, how it can tear a town apart (and how our increasingly tolerant society wears on the people who stubbornly cling to those outdated beliefs). That said, until/unless the upcoming trial finds otherwise, Hogan was taped without his consent or knowledge by Bubba and/or Heather Clem, and the release of specifics from that tape (from which this latest audio and transcript have reportedly come) constitutes a massive invasion of Hogan’s privacy. As an American citizen, Hogan has the right to be as racist as he wants to be behind closed doors without fear of repercussion – this is a right granted by the First Amendment to our Constitution. But realistically, anyone expecting a publicly-traded entertainment company (that targets children as its primary audience) to not scrub Hogan from their public presence for the content of his remarks clearly does not understand how the world works in 2015. For as much as Hogan has done for the company over the years, there was no way that WWE would ever jeopardize their stock prices – they just announced a dividend earlier this week and finally seem to be gaining back some of the ground that they lost after last year’s less-favorable-than-expected television rights deal and Network performance – by showing solidarity to a man newly revealed as a racist.

And back to the racism itself – while Hogan claims in a 2012 interview (that quite a few fans still believe is the reason for his dismissal) that certain rappers that he knows called him that particular derogatory term because he’s so “down”, I think the utter lack of awareness demonstrated in that video proves otherwise – as someone who has been in the media spotlight for the better part of thirty years, you would think that Hogan would be smart enough to realize that even if one or two people were cool with you using that racial slur in their company, it is still not a good idea to use it in a public forum, regardless of the context. Realistically, Hogan is sixty-one years old, born in the south, and made his name and livelihood in a profession not known for racial tolerance even today, so is it really all that surprising that he would be, at best, completely out of touch with the standards for racial sensitivity in modern society or, at worst, a closet racist? Again, I do not condone his words or actions in any way, shape, or form, but just as we should not be surprised that WWE cut ties with Hogan in the wake of this revelation, we also should not be taken aback by the fact that an out-of-touch old man is casually racist, no matter how much we might disagree with his beliefs.

Is it awful that a man who once served as an inspiration for people of all races has now more than likely had his true colors revealed (highly predictable public refutation notwithstanding)?

Of course it is, but based on that 2012 interview, the seemingly discriminatory dress code at his Tampa area breastaurant, and the claims from several sources that The National Enquirer has other, as-yet-unreleased audio (which allegedly include derogatory comments towards the Rock, who is a far more valuable commodity for WWE in 2015), it is very hard to believe that this was an isolated incident sparked by unhappiness with his daughter Brooke’s choice of financial backers and/or sexual partners. Unlike certain other wrestling columnists, I am not afraid to admit that I might be wrong, though, and maybe Hogan really is the person he claimed to be in his public apology; all I am saying is that I doubt that he is.

But even if he is not, does that really change his place in the annals of professional wrestling? While it might give wrestling fans a new perspective on things they see on the WWE Network involving Hogan, it does nothing to change the fact that Hogan was a part of some of the biggest moments of the 80s and 90s, it does not retroactively make all of those shows around the country no longer sellouts, and most of all, it should not make you feel like a bad person because you were (or possibly even still are) entertained by Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan is a character, just like Martin Riggs is a character or Cosmo Kramer is a character – you may not agree with the beliefs of the actors who portrayed them, but that doesn’t mean that Wrestlemania XXX is less awesome of a show because Hogan opened it, or that Lethal Weapon is suddenly a terrible movie, or even that Seinfeld should not make you laugh*. I grew up with The Cosby Show and while I think that if the claims against Bill Cosby are true, Cosby is a vile, despicable man, that does not change the fact that I learned a lot of valuable lessons from that particular program**. And just like any networks that broadcast old episodes of The Cosby Show are well within their rights to stop airing repeats of the show, so too is WWE able to remove all traces of Hogan from their website, from their television broadcasts, and even from their Hall of Fame. You might not agree with it, but it is their decision to make.

That is something that I think we as wrestling fans tend to lose sight of – a lot of our heroes have lived long enough to see themselves become real-life villains, but that should not reflect poorly on us as individuals or even as a collective. We can still support the art form that we love and cherish the memories that it has given us without condoning the beliefs or actions of the entertainers and/or promoters who instilled in us that love, who gave us those memories, in the first place.

So, no, this is not a betrayal of the Hulkamania that you may have grown up with, or the nWo angle that helped take the business to new heights in the 90s, or even the sporadic appearances in WWE over the past decade and a half, and you should not feel bad if you are still fond of any of those things or if they are what got you interested in professional wrestling or sports entertainment in your formative years. It’s an old man who apparently possesses an outdated belief system having his privacy violated and getting punished by a publicly traded corporation because of it. That doesn’t mean wrestling as a whole is any less worthy of your time and adulation; if this has shaken your fandom in any way, I promise you that if you cast your net a little farther, you’ll find something else that you will love (and that will not make you feel bad for loving it). In truth, though, it is equally easy to find shows and matches and promos that make you wonder why you still consider yourself a wrestling fan, so as I have urged disillusioned fans in the past, find something that you love and stick with that instead.

In a column that went live on the site in the early hours of Saturday morning, my colleague Greg DeMarco asked if WWE should separate Terry Bollea the man from Hulk Hogan the performer and while Greg does not believe that it is possible, and that WWE has acted properly in this situation (that part I do agree with, as stated above), if the revelation that someone many of us grew up watching as a cornerstone of this business that we love is enough to potentially sour you on the medium as a whole, I argue that you absolutely have to separate Bollea the presumed racist from Hogan the childhood hero. It is probably true that Terry Bollea cannot separate the two himself, but from a critical perspective, I think we as fans should be able to make that distinction if we so choose.

As much as Hogan (or Vince McMahon) would have you believe otherwise, no one person is responsible for the success of professional wrestling, and no matter how big the star, another plummet from the good graces of tolerant human beings should not be enough to destroy a lifetime of love for the business.

*And I say this as someone who still has a hard time watching Chris Benoit matches and dislikes “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Floyd Mayweather for their treatment of women outside of their chosen careers. Every one of us has to decide what we can personally tolerate.

**I am not saying that what Hogan did was on the level of what Bill Cosby or Chris Benoit did, only that it is possible to make a distinction in each case if one so chooses.

Wyatt Beougher is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling who has been writing for 411 for over three years and currently hosts MMA Fact or Fiction and reviews Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

article topics :

Hulk Hogan, WWE, Wyatt Beougher