Few can dispute that Hulk Hugan is a legend when it comes to American wrestling. Since his meteoric rise in the ’80s taking the torch from Andre the Giant, he carried the former World Wrestling Federation on his back until it became the $6.8 billion enterprise of its new iteration, World Wrestling Entertainment.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Gene Bollea, has always had a brand that features his blond hair, blue eyes, buffed physique, all of which bolstered his popularity to being on everything from posters, lunchboxes, T-shirts and other fan-generated merchandise. He even had a cartoon.
However, his often-racist rants and his political leanings, including being an outspoken MAGA maniac, backing Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention and publicly insulting and disparaging Vice President Kamala Harris, have all made him despised by many of the same people who grew up cheering for him.
Parody page WrestleOops could be in that category, posting a picture of him on the X platform that read, “HEARTBREAKING [heartbreak emoji] Hulk Hogan was found alive this morning at age 71.”
Within a 24-hour period, over 2.4 million X users viewed the post, with almost 900 people dropping comments. Those remarks were mixed with some blasting the account for the crude humor and others pushing the joke forward.
“Legal action should be taken against int whoever is running this account,” one fan wrote.
HEARTBREAKING💔Hulk Hogan was found alive this morning at age 71 pic.twitter.com/q3Yttjh0Sm
— WrestleOops (@WrestleOops_) September 4, 2024
Another tweeted, “Too much… this actually scared me,” as a third comment stated, “This is utterly disgusting behavior.”
One X user exclaimed, “Yoooooooo this scared me for a second. My heart dropped.”
While others said, “Leave him alone, he’s a legend,” and “Incredibly poor taste!! Not funny.”
Not everyone was offended. Some people jumped in on the gag.
“They say the good die young,” one person tweeted, before adding, “The world gonna be seeing hogan for a long time.”
Another joked, “This was not a funny I got my hopes up and i almost celebrate.”
Hogan’s overtly bigoted antics have cost him dearly over the years, and his most recent controversy may prove no different.
On Aug. 19, 2024, Hogan, still high off his appearance at the RNC, stirred outrage at The Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio. Fueled by both the crowd and alcohol, he grabbed a mic and launched into an offensive rant, threatening to “body slam” Vice President Kamala Harris and mocking her Indian heritage.
Someone in the crowd filmed his vile rant that was sent to TMZ to blast out internationally.
“Do you want me to body slam somebody? Want me to body slam Kamala Harris?” he shouted to the crowd. “I said, do you want me to body slam Kamala Harris? Do you want me to drop the leg on Kamala?”
His taunts didn’t stop there. Hogan raised his hand in a stereotypical gesture, asking, “Is Kamala a chameleon? Is she Indian?”
Hogan’s attack on Harris seemed offensive to many who noted that her father is Jamaican and her mother is Indian and from Asia.
The backlash was swift. The day after his remarks, director Todd Phillips announced that Hogan’s long-awaited biopic, which was set to star Chris Hemsworth, had been scrapped. “I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me,” Phillips told Variety.
Hogan was also heckled at a meet-and-greet but and unruly Internet personality who mocked him using his own theme song and catchphrases.
Hogan’s history of racist comments is well-documented. In 2015, he was fired by WWE after audio surfaced of him repeatedly using the N-word in reference to his daughter’s dating life.
WWE cut all ties with him, removing his name from the Hall of Fame and pulling his merchandise. While he eventually apologized and was reinstated in 2018, his image never fully recovered in the overall public’s eye, leaving him to find comfort and celebration in the midst of Trump’s America.
Hogan recently revealed during an interview on Jake Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” that he signed a five-year deal with WWE, which includes an ambassador role, licensing and merchandising.
