It was Mark Twain who once said,”It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” It doesn’t appear that the former wrestling legend Hulk Hogan heeded that excellent advice.
An audio tape from 2007 finds him speculating about his daughter sleeping with a black man:
“I don’t know if Brooke was f**king the black guy’s son… I mean, I don’t have double standards.
“I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f**king n****rs. But then when it comes to nice people and s**t, and whatever. I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f**k some n****r, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n****r worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!
“I guess we’re all a little racist. F***king n****r.”
Of course, Hulk didn’t really mean it. In a statement issued after the release of the tape, Hogan says, “Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologise for having done it… This is not who I am”
Sorry Hulkster, but that simply is not good enough. Like it or not, you are a racist. That is who you are.
He had no alternative but to apologise, but it doesn’t change anything. Let’s be very clear: if you said or even thought what Hogan said, you would undoubtedly be a racist. If you were not a racist, you would not accidentally use the “N” word repeatedly and you would be, like most people, appalled to hear it. And the fact that he made his rant in private makes it even more likely that those are his true feelings about those of colour.
There is another old saying which goes that when you are in a hole, then stop digging, but no, Hogan carries on, retweeting someone who said, “Bi-racial President Obama uses “N” word, is applauded and keeps his job. @HulkHogan uses “N” word, is vilified and loses his job.” Now put that in the context of what Obama actually said when talking about racism: “Racism, we are not cured of it. And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say n***** in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”
I’ll put my cards on the table here. I do not like the use of the “N” word by anyone and even though I understood entirely the context in which Obama made his comments, and his reason for using the word, I was extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps, that was the point Obama was making and I get that, too. But whatever my views on what Obama said, it was completely different to Hogan’s outburst.
Where I do agree with Hogan, though not in the way he probably intended it to be, is when he said, “I think we’re all a little racist.” Back in my trade union career, I went on a number of training courses about racism. Some of these were addressed by ANC members from South Africa and a number of anti-racist organisations. One of the questions that was always asked was, “Are any of you racists?” We were all horrified at the very thought of being racist. “Have you ever said anything racist?” Hmm. That was a little trickier. “Have you ever referred to someone in terms of “that black guy’ or anything similar?” “Yes, but that’s not…” “Yes, but that’s not what?” “Racist”. “Well, it’s a form of discrimination, you are discriminating between black and white. That might suggest you were prejudiced against black people. Racism is a type of discrimination and a form of prejudice. Do you see now?” We nodded, sheepishly. “We have all been guilty of racism at some time or other. Let me ask you again: are any of you racists?” We just looked at our feet, feeling very awkward. I never forgot it, but more than that I learned a valuable lesson about myself and I vowed to become a better, more non racist person.
The WWE has rightly airbrushed Hogan from its history and he will never recover from this, nor does he deserve to. Everyone can change, we know that, by a combination of contrition and then through education, but Hogan, by dragging an out of context quote from President Obama as if to vindicate repeated use of the “N” word, shows no sign of contrition and he has clearly learned nothing.
