Hulk Hogan Addresses Racist Comments Scandal On "Good Morning America" (Updated)
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan appeared on ABC's Good Morning America today to discuss the racist comments scandal that led to WWE parting ways with him.
Hogan started the interview with Amy Robach off in tears and said this is the hardest thing he's been through. Hogan says the leaked tapes were recorded when he was at the lowest point in his life, when he was suicidal. Hogan says he was very mad at daughter Brooke at the time and had no idea he was being recorded.
"Oh, my gosh. Please forgive me. Please forgive me," Hogan said. "I think if you look at the whole picture of who Hulk Hogan is, you can see over all the years that there's not a racist bone in my body."
Robach asked Hogan if he was a racist and he said no. He said he's embarrassed by what he said and blamed the rough neighborhood of South Tampa that he grew up in, saying people greeted each other with "that word" all the time like it was nothing. Hogan was asked if he wants fans to forgive him and he said he did. Hogan says he's just Terry Bollea, a regular man.
"I'm not a racist but I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it," Hogan said. "People need to realize that you inherit things from your environment. And where I grew up was south Tampa, Port Tampa, and it was a really rough neighborhood, very low income. And all my friends, we greeted each other saying that word."
Hogan talked about WWE scrubbing him from history and he said it hurts.
"I've worked for the WWE for almost 30 years off and on ... and then all of a sudden, everything I've done my whole career and my whole life was like it never happened," Hogan said. "I mean, I love this business. I mean, it's been my life. I've given my life to this business," he said. "I've destroyed my body because I love doing this so much ... And I knew great things were still coming. And — it just destroyed me.
"If everybody at their lowest point was judged on one thing they said and let's just say in high school, you may have said one bad thing and all of a sudden, your whole career was wiped out today because of something you said 10 or 20 years ago, it'd be a sad world. People get better every day. People get better."
Hogan got emotional again when Robach read Brooke's Instagram post defending her dad. He talked about how Brooke has been supportive.
"She knows me," Hulk said of Brooke. "She's seen me — kids of every color, nationality... She's seen me interact with these kids through Make A Wish, through just all these different organizations. For me to vent and be so angry at her, she should have been the one — she should have been the one to throw me out like the trash. But instead, she showed me more love than anybody."
Robach noted that Hogan said that he would give his "left arm" to get back into pro wrestling. You can watch the full interview by clicking here.
HB Bolderson contributed to this article.