By Marcos Rivas
It was 1987, May or June of that year. I remember my dad came home excited because he had just acquired the most coveted item ever released that year on VHS: Wrestlemania 3. In those days, the WWF ran on Hulkamania. I remember staying up past the 11 o’clock news for weeks before Wrestlemania, watching Saturday Night’s Main Event. The main storyline was Andre the Giant, the long-time friend of Hulk Hogan, who had just betrayed him for money. He had fallen under the spell of Bobby Heenan; he turned his back on his long-time friends and fans. Of course, Mania 3 ended with the hero at the time, Hogan standing tall. From then on, I was a Hogan fan; it always brought back to a time when my older brothers and I would bond with my dad over wrestling. Times change, as the 2008 classic the Dark Knight said, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Fast forward a couple of decades, Hulk Hogan became Hollywood Hogan and made his
fading star bright again. He withstood the test of time, having turned heel in
the late nineties and early 2000s. Hogan seemed to fade into his career
twilight graciously by making nostalgic appearances here and there, but little
did we know Hogan was about to make a real-life heel. I’m not going to go into
details. Hulk Hogan became the subject of a sex scandal in which he was caught
on tape making racist comments concerning his daughter’s previous dating
choices, like a person who didn’t want to accept their hero’s flaws and
downfall completely. I started rationalizing that it wasn’t Hulk Hogan who said
those things but the flawed man who brought the beloved character to life, Terry
Bolea. I would have endless debates concerning Terry’s racist comments while
not defending the man, defending the larger-than-life character Hulk Hogan. I
defended Hogan for a couple of years. Some understood, and some poked fun at me
for the remaining fandom.
That didn’t last long as Terry Bolea went and shilled himself for a check at this year’s RNC. Hogan, whose real name is Terry G. Bollea, called Mr. Trump his “hero” and said the former president would bring “America back together, one real American at a time.”
“As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics,” said Mr. Bollea, who wore a red bandana and had a pair of dark sunglasses propped above his head. “But after everything that’s happened to our country over the past four years and everything that happened last weekend, I can no longer stay silent.”
After watching this clip repeatedly, I fully accepted what I always denied. Terry, the man, and Hulk Hogan are the same. Leaving political parties aside, Terry stated Trump, who has in the past made similar racist comments in the past, is his hero. I can’t no longer support him as a wrestler, much less a person anymore. Let’s say Hulkamania is no longer running wild in my life. I still cherish the memories I have of the good times I shared with my family, but instead of Hogan being at the center, I will remember the times I spent with me since deceased siblings and Dad, not the severely flawed individual that entertained us.
Update:
After I wrote this article, Terry “Hulk Hogan” continued his fall from grace by making derogatory comments about the Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris. In a video obtained by TMZ, the 71-year-old asks the jeering crowd: “Do you want me to body slam Kamala Harris?!”
“Do you want me to drop the leg on Kamala?!” he shouts, referring to one of his iconic wrestling moves.
The comments were made during a promotional event for his new beer and come amid calls to stop violent political rhetoric following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump nearly six weeks ago.
Hogan continued to comment more about Ms Harris, including one about her Indian heritage.
Kamala Harris is bi-racial – her mother is from India, and her father is Jamaican.
“Is Kamala a chameleon? Is she Indian?” Hogan asked the crowd before using an outdated and stereotypical greeting associated with Native American Indians.
The video stops after he is heard saying he “was going to get heat for that one.”
“That was not me; that was the beer talking,” he added.
-Marcos Rivas
@thesunsetkid56
