{"id":92073,"date":"2025-07-25T18:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92073\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T18:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:41:12","slug":"black-wrestling-fans-reflect-on-hulk-hogans-legacy-on-issues-of-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92073\/","title":{"rendered":"Black wrestling fans reflect on Hulk Hogan’s legacy on issues of race"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Kazeem Famuyide\u2019s earliest memories is sitting on his father\u2019s lap watching Hulk Hogan<\/a> wrestle in the 1988 Survivor Series. <\/p>\n

His love of Hogan in the ring became inextricable from what would become a lifelong obsession with the sport \u2014 including a yearlong role touring the country and writing scripts for WWE\u2019s top talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a superhero to a lot of people, including myself,\u201d said Famuyide, who is Black and now co-hosts the WWE-themed podcast \u201cThe Ringer Wrestling Show.\u201d He remembers Hogan telling audiences to \u201ctrain, say your prayers and eat your vitamins,\u201d often in front of giant American flags.<\/p>\n

But for the 38-year-old Famuyide and other Black wrestling fans and sports commentators, Hogan\u2019s death this week<\/a> at 71 has resurfaced an irreconcilable contradiction in the iconic wrestler\u2019s legacy: Hogan\u2019s undeniable role in broadening wrestling\u2019s appeal to fans of all backgrounds versus his well-documented racism.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never really got the feeling that Hulk Hogan truly felt remorse,\u201d Famuyide said. <\/p>\n

Reactions to Hogan\u2019s death reflect American divide on race<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Right Time\u201d podcast host Bomani Jones noted there were two sharply different reactions to Hogan\u2019s death. Remembrances have split between those who see no need to harp on past controversies and those who struggle with his behavior that once got him banned from the WWE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was never going to be one where people were going to mourn quietly,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s death drew remembrances<\/a> from politicians, celebrities and fans alike, celebrating his accolades. Many applauded how he was able to parlay his wrestling persona into movie appearances, brand deals, a reality television show and notable political influence.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson, whose fame arguably rivals Hogan\u2019s acclaim, paid tribute. Johnson, the son of pioneering wrestler Rocky Johnson, one of the WWE\u2019s first Black champions, said Hogan was a hero \u201cto millions of little kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may have \u2018passed the torch\u2019 to me,\u201d Johnson wrote under a 2002 video showing him and Hogan facing off at Wrestlemania.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you, my friend…you \u2018drew the house\u2019 meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the country in your prime as Hulk Hogan, on your way of becoming the greatest of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other notable Black professional wrestlers, from Booker T and Mark Henry, to Jacqueline Moore and Carlene \u201cJazz\u201d Moore-Begnaud, have found success and fame in the WWE.<\/p>\n

But just as many people took Hogan\u2019s death as an opportunity to regale Hogan\u2019s more controversial behavior.<\/p>\n

In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan over $115 million against Gawker Media, after Hogan sued them for posting a video of him having sex with his former best friend\u2019s wife. The litigation led to the discovery that Hogan had used racial slurs in 2007 to describe his daughter\u2019s Black ex-boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a racist, to a point,\u201d Hogan said, before adding the slur against Black people, according to a transcript. <\/p>\n

Hogan apologized at the time and called the language \u201cunacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Around the same time, some outlets reported<\/a> that Hogan used the same slur on a recorded phone call with his son.<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s enthusiastic endorsement<\/a> of conservative political figures like longtime friend President Donald Trump<\/a> made many people doubt the sincerity of that apology, Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to get caught on tape saying these things in private. It\u2019s another thing for you to decide publicly to align yourself with a cause that many Black people find antagonistic toward us,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Professional wrestling has a history of reckoning on racist tropes<\/p>\n

For many Black wrestling enthusiasts, Hogan\u2019s death brings up familiar contradictions in how the sport deals with race.<\/p>\n

Lyric Swinton, 27, a freelance wrestling writer, first fell in love with the sport when she was 8. She describes wrestling as \u201cthe most nuanced and colorful\u201d form of storytelling.<\/p>\n

Although she feels representation has improved, Swinton remembers WWE use racist tropes in Black wrestlers\u2019 plot lines. Swinton recalls Shelton Benjamin having a \u201cmammy,\u201d played by Thea Vidale, invoking a racist caricature.<\/p>\n

Swinton considers Benjamin one of the most talented wrestlers at the time, but feels he never got the recognition that his contemporaries did, in part because he was scripted to those roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of felt like I had to check my Blackness at the door,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hogan hasn\u2019t tarnished sport for all Black fans<\/p>\n

For WWE enthusiast and sports journalist Master Tesfatsion, the mixed reactions to Hogan\u2019s death mirror fault lines that exist throughout the country, and highlight how central wrestling has become in pop culture.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Tesfatsion, who is Black, remembers watching Vince McMahon, the company\u2019s co-founder and former chairman, use a racial slur in a match with John Cena in 2005; or the storyline in 2004 when wrestler John Layfield chased Mexicans across the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some strange way, the WWE always had a pulse on where America stood,\u201d Tesfatsion said. \u201cYou cannot tell the history of America without all these issues, just like you cannot tell the history of the WWE without these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tesfatsion was in the audience at Hogan\u2019s last appearance at a professional match in January. He was one of the many who booed Hogan. After decades of fandom, it was his first time seeing Hogan live. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought that I would see \u2018The Hulk\u2019 in person, and that I would resort to bullying him. But that\u2019s what his actions made me do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Tesfatsion said he will never stop being a super fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still love America, I still love the WWE. It\u2019s an emotional contradiction that I choose to deal with because I still find value in it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Kazeem Famuyide\u2019s earliest memories is sitting on his father\u2019s lap watching Hulk Hogan wrestle in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3881,20148,69,60990,171,57,59638,5234,60988,34401,60987,2068,19500,62,60989,61,67,132,68,60445,8117],"class_list":{"0":"post-92073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-black-experience","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-dwayne-johnson","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-hulk-hogan","15":"tag-john-cena","16":"tag-john-layfield","17":"tag-mark-henry","18":"tag-pro-wrestling","19":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","20":"tag-racism","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-thea-vidale","23":"tag-u-s-news","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-vince-mcmahon","28":"tag-wrestling"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114915343497070355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}