Hulk Hogan broke down in tears during a recent interview, asking for forgiveness for his racist tirade.
“I was at the lowest point of my life, to the point where I wanted to kill myself,” he said during an interview with “Good Morning America,” referencing the time period when the secret recording was made. On the 2006 recording, he can be heard using the N-word when discussing daughter Brooke Hogan’s then-boyfriend with Heather Clem, the wife of Hogan’s former friend and radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
“No, I’m not a racist. I never should have said what I said. I was wrong; I’m embarrassed by it, but people need to realize that you inherit things from your environment,” he said. “Where I grew up was South Tampa, and it was a really rough neighborhood, very low income, and all my friends, we greeted each other saying that word. The word was just thrown around like it was nothing.”
He said it’s “fair” to say he inherited a racial bias, and asked for forgiveness from his fans.
The comments were discovered on an unauthorized sex tape with Clem that surfaced in 2012. The National Enquirer exposed the racial rant in July and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) cut ties with the wrestler shortly after.
The 62-year-old faced a slew of backlash, but received support from his daughter, who spoke out in defense of her father by saying: “My dad’s best friends with Mr. T, he’s best friends with Dennis Rodman. He’s not racist.”
Hogan is suing Gawker Media for $100 million for posting video of the Clem sex tape in 2012. They are set to go to trial in March 2016.
Source: HuffingtonPost
