Booker T Thought His Career Was Over After Dropping Racial Slur on WCW TV During Hulk Hogan Promo

– Booker T and Hulk Hogan discussed Booker’s infamous promo against Hogan in WCW when he dropped a racial slur. The two talked about the moment on Booker’s Hall of Fame radio show, a clip from which you can see below.

The promo took place at Spring Stampede in 1997, where Booker was set to be part of a Four Corners match for the #1 contendership to Hogan’s WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Booker said during the promo, We want the gold, sucka. Hulk Hogan, we comin’ for you n****.” You can see highlights from the discussion below:

On his reaction to the infamous promo: “That moment back there in WCW, that was the worst moment in my life at that point in time. I definitely wanted to stick my head in the sand and never come out.”

On whether it hit him right away or after the fact: “Immediately, it was the worst day of my life. I cringed, I cringed when I said it. I literally, like, chills went through my body and I was like, ‘Oh god, what did I just say?’ The thing is, what’s not ironic about it, that’s a word I used to use on a regular basis. Like, everyday, in my neighborhood where I grew up. It was common, it was just something that we said. But, in the wrestling business, until that day Hulk, none of my peers had ever heard me use that word. Black guys or white guys, no one had heard me say it. My wife, literally the first time she saw me, for the first year or so, she didn’t even think I listened to rap music because I was so straight-laced. When I said it, I saw, ‘Good god.’ I froze. I thought that was the end of my career.”

Hogan on why he wasn’t angry about it: “I didn’t understand at that time what was going on … I wasn’t aware of how intense it was. So honestly? I haven’t gone in to lobby to get anyone fired, much less over that word. Because, whenever that was … I don’t remember being as sensitive as the politically correct environment [is] now. If it went down, I wasn’t aware of it for years. If it did happen, and I was aware of it, it went in one ear and out the other because I was so used to hearing it. So I didn’t know it was that intense back then. Plus I’m not one of those guys who goes in there and says, ‘Fire one of the boys.’ No matter what they did.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Booker T’s Hall of Fame with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.