In this May 14 file photo, Hulk Hogan attends an NBC event in New York. While speaking to TV critics on Thursday, July 30, about his HBO series “Ballers,” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was asked to comment on the tape of Hogan making racist comments. Johnson, also a former pro wrestler, said he was disappointed when he heard about Hogan’s remarks, but also said the comments didn’t match his personal history with him. AP
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has spoken on the ugly controversy legendary pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan has gotten into.
A former member of the World Wrestling Entertainment himself, Johnson said he was “pretty disappointed” of Hogan, Terry Bolea in real life, after the latter was heard using the n-word in an old audio clip.
Bleacher Report had the transcript of Johnson when the wrestler-turned-actor went on press tour for HBO’s Television Critics Association.
“I’ve known [Hulk Hogan] for a lot of years. My dad helped train him in Florida in the ’70s when he was breaking into the business. My uncles helped train him as well. So I’d not known him to be racist.”
Johnson not only knew Hogan as a wrestler but also competed against him in the co-main event of Wrestlemania X8 in an Icon vs Icon card.
“It’s funny, it’s one of those things where—I’m not justifying what he said—but we’ve all talked trash. Especially in private. He said what he said and now he’s paying the price.”
Hogan was caught making remarks to ex-lover Heather Clem, according to National Enquirer, and was also caught to using homophobic slurs to describe the owner of his childhood home.
With the scandals surrounding the legendary wrestler, WWE fired Hogan and scrapped all materials associated to him.
Video game company 2K, which produces WWE-licensed games yearly, also scrapped Hogan from the WWE 2K16 roster.