Hulk Hogan Was Caught on Tape Saying Racist Things About His Daughter's Dating Life

Although he's one of the best-known wrestlers in the history of the sport, Hulk Hogan's legacy was complicated during the last decade of his life. Now, following the news of his death at the age of 71, many are looking back at Hulk's life and finding that racism was a defining feature of it.

Although allegations of racism might seem unfounded, Hulk himself said that he was a racist "to some extent" on tape. Here's what we know about the allegations and where they originated.

The moment that most crystallized Hulk's racism was a leaked tape from 2015 that was published by Gawker in which he was quoted delivering a racist rant about his fear that his daughter might date Black men.

“I mean, I don’t have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f--king [n-words],” he says on the tape.

“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-word], I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall [n-word] worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player! I guess we’re all a little racist. F--king [n-word]," he continued.

If this were an isolated incident, it would be bad enough, but the famous wrestler used the n-word on other tapes that were included in the leak.

During a phone call with his son, who was in prison at the time following a horrific car accident, Hulk used the word again and said that he was worried about being reincarnated as a Black person.

“You know that God gave you this vibe and this, this, energy that you and I are going to live forever, bro. … I just hope we don’t come back as a couple, I don’t want to say it, blizz-ack gizz-uys, you know what I’m saying?” he said.

Although there was plenty of evidence prior to this incident that Hulk was not a good guy (he turned on his fellow wrestlers when they tried to unionize in the mid-1980s), these remarks were enough to forever change the way he was viewed within the world of wrestling. Although he was iced out of WWE for a time, he eventually started making appearances at events again.

His most recent appearance was in January of this year, where he was quickly booed all the way out of the arena.

Hulk's reputation was also tarnished by his political opinions. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, he endorsed Donald Trump on stage and then proceeded to rip his shirt off, reminding everyone just how masculine he was.

He eventually sued Gawker over the leaked audio that changed the course of his life, and wiped them off the map completely. Getting his revenge didn't change the end of his story, though. He probably should have just avoided saying the n-word.