From Rawstory.
"WWE has terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan). WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide," the network said in a statement released Friday.
And I think they were totally, completely wrong for doing it. Basing their decision on a 2012 radio interview Hogan did where he described his interactions with rappers like Lil Wayne and Booker T, I have to say IMO there's nothing wrong with what he said.
He didn't use the word in anger, he didn't attack or insult anyone. He wasn't even quoting someone else usage the way the President recently did. He was using it interchangeably with the word "Brother" which a lot of black people do. They used it when addressing him, with obvious irony, and he was simply going along with
their usage in that same vein, and they didn't object because they had an
understanding of what they all truly meant.
He even points out the difference between "Nigga" and "Nigger" which to be honest are different words, not just different pronunciations.
Continued over the flip.
As you can see from the video one of the guys he's speaking to in this interview is Black and he doesn't object to Hulk's word usage. He understands. In fact it's the black guy who brings up the comparison between "My Brother" and "My Nigga" at 1:58. Hogan is simply responding to him when he later says this:
“And everybody down there—Lil Wayne, Birdman—they’re all calling me ‘n----a.’ And then, I started saying it and I always said it. But now, all of sudden, I get heat when I say it. And they say, ‘Hogan, you can’t say that,’ but then why can they say it to me?" Hogan said an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on "Whoolywood Shuffle."
"Back in the day I couldn't remember anybodies name so I'd say 'My Brother'"
There's not an ounce of malice in what Mr. Hogan is saying here. Not a shred of what some psychologist are calling
microaggression in the way that Jon Stewart screamed "Fuck Off, I'm done with you" at Wyatt Cenac when he complained that Stewart's Herman Cain impression sounded too much like
Kingfish from Amos & Andy, causing Cenac to go out into a
local baseball field and cry thinking he'd just been fired. Even though Stewart did eventually apologize and they
did use the segment - during which Stewart also imitated the voice of Tim Pawlenty - Wyatt soon voluntarily left the writers room and then the show the following year, feeling miserable.
I can see how Wyatt could honestly hear the similarity, and I could see how Stewart could become very offended at the accusation of racism on his part - but it's not his fault that Herman Cain sounds like Kingfish, because he does.
I think the larger issue in both these situations is where the first place we jump to assume people's worst intentions when that may not be the case. The truth is that this happens because those people who really do have the worst intentions, lie about it.
For example to this very day even after years of his Birtherism Crap and his "Mexicans are Rapists" garbage Donald Trump continues to deny that he's a Racist and would probably grow incensed at the accusation. Cliven Bundy denies he's a Racist and even trotted out a fresh new special black friend to prove it. Ted Nugent denies he's a racist even after he said Stevie Wonder was on drugs for not wanting to do shows in states with "Stand Your Ground" laws, when Stevie hasn't taken any drugs since the 60's because he didn't like them.
Even Donald Freaking Sterling former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers Denied He's a Racist.
Sterling on Tape: There's no racism here. If you don't want to be... walking... into a basketball game with a certain... person, is that racism?
Open Racists who are really willing to be card carrying hood wearing members of the KKK or Skinheads - or wannabes like Dylann Roof - aren't really all that plentiful. A lot of people may harbor racial preconceptions in their head without really realizing it because there is
always a sliver of truth in those preconceptions generally, even if they may loose validity when applied to a
specific individual.
Some black people really do like fried chicken and watermelon - but not all of them. Most of us sort of know that, but some of get confused on the specifics.
So we have to go hunting for bigots. We have to carefully listen for their dog whistles as they try to Secret Squirrel Bat Signal each other without - they think - being noticed or caught in the act because a few of them realize that since the 1964 Civil Right Act being an open bigot is a crime and leaves them legally liable.
So they hide, and they deny, and they try to squirm out of it.
Those are the guys who should be getting this kind of treatment, not Hogan. Sometimes, sometimes, we point the bigot finger a little too quickly and a little too easily. Sometimes the denials are legitimate, not just a ruse.
I'm not a fan of Hulk Hogan. I did see a few episodes of his reality show and I think he and his family are a great big Hot Mess. I can't vouch for his personal integrity or his personal values - I'm just saying that in. this. one. instance. he's innocent of racism. He's innocent of bigotry. He's innocent of malice.
In fact at his age, from what I saw on his program, he really shouldn't even think about getting in the ring anymore. But even with that in mind, IMO WWE should restore his contract.
He doesn't deserved to flame out like this. Not over something other people said to him in gest and he returned with the same good humor. I don't want to fall back and say this is "Political Correctness Run Amok" because it's not - it's a failure to listen. Sometimes it's not just the single word that someone uses, it's all the other words together in context that give meaning to what their saying that matters.
Vyan
4:15 PM PT: The question as mentioned in comments is whether WWE let him go based on this recording or based on this other recording of a rant he had about someone he wondered could sleeping with his daughter when the guy's dad had been helping her get her music career going.
He said that 'a black billionaire guy' had offered to bankroll her, then speculated about her sex life'.
Hogan told Clem: 'I don't know if Brooke was f*cking 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.'
He continued: '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.'
I'm not sure I know exactly what he's trying to say there - he says he doesn't have double standards, that "we're all a little racist" which isn't exactly untrue and basically if she's screwing this guy, hopefully she's gonna get something tangible out of it, which is - I don't know - maybe protective. Seems like if the guy is nice, or he's rich, he's alright with it. His context here seem confused, he could be saying "fucking niggers" maliciously and then again he might not. It could be incredulity, "fucking niggers?"
Bottom line he doesn't know that she is sleeping with the guy, he's just speculating. The National Enquirer is the source of this and they don't provide the audio, they just provide the "opinion of a witness" who listened to the audio. The whole thing seems sketchy to me.
I could see them letting him go based on this rant, which is a mess, but not necessarily the other one.
Either way his daughter has defended him., so there's that too.