{"id":186591,"date":"2025-08-13T08:51:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/wwes-vince-mcmahon-reflects-on-hulk-hogan-racism-controversy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T08:51:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:51:44","slug":"wwes-vince-mcmahon-reflects-on-hulk-hogan-racism-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/wwes-vince-mcmahon-reflects-on-hulk-hogan-racism-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE\u2019s Vince McMahon Reflects on Hulk Hogan Racism Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n Sylvester Stallone, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon.<\/span> John Shearer\/WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon<\/strong> is looking back at the late Hulk Hogan<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s racism scandal in 2015<\/a>, insisting that, at heart, Hogan wasn\u2019t a racist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unforgivable. And I was, like, aghast. What happened?\u201d McMahon, 79, said on TMZ Presents: The Real Hulk Hogan<\/em>, a new documentary on the wrestling icon that aired Tuesday, August 12, on Fox.<\/p>\n

McMahon continued, \u201cAnd when those things occurred, that\u2019s not like him. What in God\u2019s name is going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan \u2014 real name Terry Bollea \u2014 was fired by WWE<\/a> and removed from the company\u2019s Hall of Fame in July 2015 after audio emerged of him repeatedly using the N-word and describing himself as \u201cracist, to a point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Why Hulk Hogan Was So Controversial Before His Death at 71<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tHulk Hogan was undoubtedly crucial to WWE\u2019s stratospheric popularity during the 1980s and 1990s, but he was also a hugely controversial figure on screen and off. Hogan (real name Terry Gene Bollea) \u2014 who died at age 71 in July 2025 \u2014 publicly apologized in 2015 after leaked sex tape footage caught him using a [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

McMahon, who was in charge of WWE at the time, said, \u201cAs soon as it happened, obviously, the company didn\u2019t have anything to do with him anymore. We took him out of the Hall of Fame. You just don\u2019t do those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the wrestling promoter believes that the incident didn\u2019t reflect the true Hogan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew he wasn\u2019t racist. I\u2019ve been with him for so many years,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t racist. He said some racist things. He should pay for that, and he did. In the end, I think everyone saw the real Hulk Hogan, Terry Bollea, and they felt, \u2018Wait a minute, this guy doesn\u2019t act like a racist. He\u2019s not a racist.\u2019 We all make mistakes. That was a big one, but he wasn\u2019t a racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the scandal, Hogan said there was \u201cno excuse\u201d<\/a> for the language he used. \u201cI believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs. It is not who I am. I continue to work every day to improve as a person, and this matter is an important learning experience for me in that regard,\u201d he said in a statement to Us Weekly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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