Hulk Hogan: Real American Trailer

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Hogan dropping that factually incorrect statement about "I was disappointed because I got Arsenio Hall his job."

Well, how does he work that out, first off. Secondly, why would be he disappointed in Arsenio. He was just some guest to Arsenio. It wasnt his idea for him to go on an tell a lie so unrealistic, he might as well have said "I havent had a wank before." Even Vince advised him not to go on and lie. He didnt have to say anything. Just let it die out. How it that Arsenio Hall's fault?

[Chris B]

2 hours ago, Roy said:

Short of wearing a hood and burning a cross, I don't know what more he could do to prove his character.

There are some that won't believe it unless Hogan actually admitted being racist or said something like "I am racist, fucking n******s*."

Which is literally what he said in his sex tape, just with 'to a point' in the middle.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

 

[garynysmon]

7 hours ago, AshC said:

I'm not convinced he was Republican, let alone racist. I think he would tell the people around him, in whatever scenario, what those people wanted to hear, having been in a business where that was a key to success for decades. MAGA was seemingly the last big audience that was open to him being an active player in the last year or so, thus I can understand him going all-in.

I don't think there's any doubt that he held racist views. He even admitted it on the tape. 

He was also a liar and the ultimate politician, with others' careers having suffered as a result.

But that doesn't mean he wasn't also capable of lovely and actually genuine gestures towards make-a-wish children etc. He seemed to actually like the children/fans and never made them feel like a chore.

I don't for a moment think that these were for the cameras, he had an incredibly positive side to his personality.

For all the careers he held down, he also made a lot of wrestlers a lot of money over the years. There aren't many wrestlers that could have carried the WWF on their back for the best part of 10 years.

Its alright to say that someone like Terry Bollea / Hulk Hogan was incredibly complex, an infuriating person at times, and probably badly advised. But am I that surprised that someone of his background, growing up in Florida in the 60s and 70s held pretty abhorrent views?

Sometimes people are just shades of gray rather than fitting neatly in a box.

Edited April 27 by garynysmon

[Slapnut]

I dunno man, the minute somebody exposes themselves as a racist piece of shit, I'm putting them firmly into the racist piece of shit box.

Also, not being surprised somebody has abhorrent views doesn't make it any better to hold such abhorrent views.

[Lorne Malvo]

7 hours ago, garynysmon said:

 But am I that surprised that someone of his background, growing up in Florida in the 60s and 70s held pretty abhorrent views?

I've never understood this viewpoint. 

He grew up in the 60s and 70s in a right-wing state, sure. But he also toured the world for the rest of his life, seeing many different cultures and creeds, sharing a locker room with people of all nationalities and races and upbringings. If that can't undo any abhorrent views imprinted on him by his upbringing, then maybe he's just a vile piece of shit. 

[tiger_rick]

Hulk Hogan was a pop culture icon. He was at least half responsible for the WWF's worldwide popularity. He was a hero to many and he delivered an experience that many, many people needed. He was also a dirty, fucking racist. Never let the former cloud the latter. It's not shades of grey, it's a man whose selfishness, racism and small-world view pissed all over the good he did.

The only reason he had any legacy left is because the western world is getting more and more intolerable. Defending scumbags like him doesn't help.

[AshC]

Dennis Rodman, who actually knew him and, last time I checked, was definitely a black man, was in tears about his death only recently. To me, this has weight. We didn't know the guy, none of us. Rodman did.

Talk about society, maybe we should stick hidden cameras on everyone's grandparents and judge them based on the maddest shit they say. Or, maybe it's not that simple.

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm not racist, one of my best mates is Dennis Rodman. 

[Merzbow]

If only we could have a deep conversation with him about how he feels about Trump's current term, but I'm pretty sure he's a fucking racist who'd love it.

Edited April 28 by Merzbow

[BomberPat]

I don't think there's any defence against someone who, in a guarded moment, said "I am a racist", and who worried about his daughter dating black men or him and his son being reincarnated as black men. There's no nuance there, no amount of "had a black friend" that counteracts that.

Yes, people are complicated, yes, he did good works for Make-A-Wish and so on, and I'm sure that wasn't entirely self-serving, that it really was out of the goodness of Terry Bollea's heart. But whether or not the bloke who said "I am a racist" is a racist is not complicated.

[Supremo]

“On a monitored phone call to my son, imprisoned for drunk driving and causing a crash that left his friend disabled, I discussed my fear of karma re-incarnating us as black people. However, I didn’t say this because I’m a horrible racist, I actually said it because I thought it’d be what he wanted to hear, and it might cheer him up.”

I can think of no greater tribute to Hulk Hogan than us coming up with a level of unbelievable bollocks even he wouldn’t try and spin.

[garynysmon]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

He grew up in the 60s and 70s in a right-wing state, sure. But he also toured the world for the rest of his life, seeing many different cultures and creeds, sharing a locker room with people of all nationalities and races and upbringings. If that can't undo any abhorrent views imprinted on him by his upbringing, then maybe he's just a vile piece of shit. 

I accept all of that. Its true. 

But I also think that even today such views are way more prevalent in society than we’re willing to admit to ourselves sometimes.

Let’s not pretend that much of the current populist right doesn’t contain an element of thinly veiled racism, and yet its supported by millions upon millions of people.

Hogan wasn’t daft enough to say these things in public, but he was caught making them in private. And did a pathetic job of even trying to educate himself or better himself afterwards.

He was more upset about getting caught than being mortified about what he said. And he decided to hop onto the MAGA rescue boat for refuge.

But my more general cynicism derives from my suspicion that quite a few of our favourites from that era would have disgusted us too if we had access to candid conversations when the cameras were off.

Uneducated men, on the whole, who grew up in that era don’t strike me as particularly liberal. How many abhorrent road stories have we heard from WWF locker rooms during that era? It was genuinely a horrendous culture.

Rather than attempting to defend any of it, I suppose I’ve been desensitised to the extent that my expectations from that generation of wrestlers has already dropped to rock bottom.

I’m not giving Hogan a free pass on anything. He was clearly not a ‘good man’ but was capable of, and did, also do some very good and noble things.

So, I find him to be a more complex person than, say Warrior, who as well as publicly and unabashedly saying horrendous things about Gay people, also appeared to have no redeeming features whatsoever.

[Chili]

1 hour ago, AshC said:

Dennis Rodman, who actually knew him and, last time I checked, was definitely a black man, was in tears about his death only recently. To me, this has weight. We didn't know the guy, none of us. Rodman did.

Talk about society, maybe we should stick hidden cameras on everyone's grandparents and judge them based on the maddest shit they say. Or, maybe it's not that simple.

Rodman is a fucking mentalist. You can have black friends and still be a fucking cunt in what you say about a different race. I'd use my dad an example of that, the use of outdated terms and phrases. For Hogan, Rodman was in his mind possibly 'one of the good ones' because he was famous and successful. He was noted to have said some fucking AWFUL shit about the person who helped fund Brooke Hogan's record career, coincidentally a person of colour, but to Hogan, a mark and an n-word.

Obviously he had some complex to him, the work with children and what that did for them and him not disappointing them in those personal moments should be commended because he knew what to do. Be Hulk Hogan, and give a child with maybe not too much time left the full works of meeting a proper superhero. But in other aspects of his life, like being worried about being reincarnated as black, he was a big mad old racist. An extremely talented one, but very much a racist. Whatever the fuck Dennis Rodman might think.

Edited April 28 by Chili

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I'd probably believe Hulk Hogan wasnt racist had it not been for the fact he said "I'm racist" after he shagged his mates wife. For me, actually saying you're racist tends to make me believe he is one.