Hulk Hogan's Legacy Was Already Complicated — Trump Just Made It More So
Donald Trump’s tribute to Hulk Hogan reads less like a genuine moment of grief and more like a carefully framed campaign portrait. In a Truth Social post, Trump hailed Hogan as “MAGA all the way,” praising his “strong, tough, smart” persona and remembering a speech at the 2024 RNC as “absolutely electric.” He expressed condolences to Hogan’s family — but opted for silence on the messier corners of his legacy.
Because yes, there was a mess. And Trump skipped over it entirely.
Back in 2012, a sex tape involving Hogan and his friend’s wife was published by Gawker, alongside written commentary. The site claimed it was fair game — Hogan had publicly discussed his sex life on reality TV and in interviews — but many saw it as invasive and gratuitous.
The lawsuit that followed wasn’t just about privacy. It was secretly bankrolled by billionaire Peter Thiel, who had a personal grudge against Gawker for outing him in 2007. He later confirmed he spent $10 million funding the case, which ended in a cumulative $140 million judgment and the company’s collapse.
For Hogan, the case helped reshape his public image — from fading star with tabloid baggage to symbolic underdog fighting a powerful media elite. That framing stuck, at least for a moment.
Then came 2015: leaked audio captured Hogan spewing blatant racial slurs and expressing disgust at the thought of his daughter dating a Black man. WWE cut ties immediately. Though Hogan issued an apology, blaming his words on his “environment” stirred widespread skepticism, particularly among fans marginalized by his language. At the time, his daughter Brooke publicly defended him, urging people to “try to feel his hurt” and insisting, “if you knew the dad I knew, you’d know his tender heart.”
Even Hogan’s family story isn’t quite as simple as Trump implies. Earlier this year, his daughter Brooke Hogan revealed she had gone “no contact” with both parents, citing years of emotional abuse and public humiliation. “I am breaking the chain,” she wrote in a March Instagram post. “It ends with me.”
Trump and Hogan’s history dates back nearly four decades, with the two frequently crossing paths in the world of spectacle. Hogan headlined WrestleMania IV and V at Trump Plaza in the late 1980s — a time when Trump was already positioning himself as a fixture of pop culture adjacent power. Over the years, Hogan publicly endorsed Trump, appearing on Fox News, attending campaign rallies, and — most recently — delivering that RNC speech in a tank top bearing Trump’s name.
At a rally in 2024, Hogan told a crowd at Madison Square Garden, “Donald Trump was sitting ringside at the Trump Plaza. I was bleeding like a pig, and I won the world title right in front of Donald J. Trump.”
That’s the version of Hulk Hogan that Trump is now memorializing: not the man who sparked debates about race, privacy, and press freedom — but the one who stood on a stage and shouted “Real American” into a microphone. It’s a selective remembrance. But it’s also the one that fits the brand.
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