Last month, Hulk Hogan won a ginormous settlement in his case against Gawker Media for $115 million, after he sued them for publishing a sex tape involving him and his friend’s wife. Outside of the bombshell sex tape, a National Enquirer report divulged the news of a racist rant that Hogan went on during the sex tape, a report that forever changed Hogan’s life. He was promptly removed from the WWE Hall of Fame, and all footage of him was struck from the wrestling organization’s YouTube channel. He would eventually claim during an ABC interview that there isn’t a “racist bone” in his body.
Fast forward to today, the actual audio from the sex tape recorded nine years ago has leaked, and below you can listen to muffled audio of Hogan’s rant, which is riddled with n-words and a blatant omission that he’s “racist to a point, y’know.” Per Death and Taxes, a formidable transcription is also below, so, y’know…pick your poison.
Though a jury has already deemed Gawker Media liable for Hogan’s economic and emotional suffering, the court of public opinion will further hang the wrestling great throughout this entire ordeal. It’s also worth noting that the Gawker v Hogan court proceedings are far from over, as Gawker head Nick Denton has promised a full appeal, which he’s hoping will help his company “ultimately” win the case.
Hogan: I’m getting ready to cut some serious bait. [Inaudible] Brooke — my daughter, Brooke — [redacted], she jumped sides on me.
Heather Clem: Mmm-hmm.
Hogan: ‘Cause I shelled out two, three million bucks for her music, and [inaudible] I’ve done everything. Fucking with him day and night on the radio like a jackass, and he’s working with me to make…make work [inaudible] when [inaudible] really should call it a day and do the shit I did.
[Eight-second redaction]
Hogan: The son, he’s [inaudible] this black billionaire guy, Cecile. He basically did more for her in a year than anybody’s done. [Inaudible], he had one song, and after 10 months it should go to [inaudible] and [inaudible] and [inaudible]. [Inaudible sentence]. I try to be the realist, and ‘This is your option: You got a better option. [Redacted] said you can sign with [redacted].’ He’s gonna put 500 million behind [inaudible]. Right now there’s nothing else. We’re doing the best we can.
Clem: Right.
Hogan: So it gets to the point where…I dunno if Brooke was fucking the black guy’s son, or they’ve been hanging out. I caught them holding hands together on the tour. They were getting close to kind of [inaudible] the fucking [inaudible]. I’m not a double standard type of guy. I’m a racist to a point, y’know, fucking niggers, but then, when it comes to nice people and [redacted]
Clem: We all are that way.
Hogan: Yeah, cool, when it comes to nice people, you gotta…you can’t, you can’t say the…
[Two-second redaction]
Hogan: I don’t give a fuck if she [inaudible] [an eight foot tall?] basketball player.
Clem: [laughs]
Hogan: If we’re gonna fuck with niggers, let’s get a rich one!
Clem: [laughs]
Hogan: I don’t care if he’s a multi-billionaire. The thing is, now that you start doing these nasty emails…so somewhere, [inaudible] relationship, and now [inaudible] doesn’t want to talk to anybody, nanananana.”
