Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been added to the list of celebrities who have defended Hulk Hogan, aka Terry Bollea, after audio of his racist rant surfaced. The actor’s comments are coming amid a second audio being leaked of Hogan using the N-word.
While at a TV critics’ meeting Thursday to discuss his new HBO series, “Ballers,” Johnson said that he was disappointed by Hogan’s offensive words but also said he’s never known him to be racist, the Daily Mail reported.
“I’ve known Terry for a lot of years, and my dad helped train him in Florida in the ’70s when he was breaking into the business,” said Johnson, who rose to fame as a wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. in the ’90s.”I come from a very long line of lineage of professional wrestlers. I had not known the man to be racist.”
Johnson, who made his transition from the ring to major motion pictures, added that Hogan’s rant was just talking trash.
“We’ve all talked trash, you know, especially in private. He said what he said, and he’s paying the price,” Johnson said.
Last week, an audiotape was leaked that featuring Hogan in which he complained about his daughter, Brooke, dating a Black man. The veteran wrestler called him a “f—ing n—–” and admitting to being a racist. The WWE immediately cut ties with the 61-year-old.
Recently, another audio clip was released of Hogan speaking to his then-jailed son, Nick, over the phone in 2008. He had been arrested for crashing his sports car into a tree while drunk, giving his friend and passenger in the vehicle permanent brain damage. In the audio, Hogan dropped the N-word again and made some other questionable remarks about Black people.
“You and me been sitting on some serious phone, phone dialogue here n—-,” Hogan can reportedly be heard saying to his son over a Florida jailhouse phone.
“Yeah, nibb-ah,” Nick replied.
Hogan continued, “N—-, n—-, that means, that means you [are] my best friend.”
He then goes on to tell his son that he hopes that their “energy” lives forever, but that they don’t come back as “blizz-ack gizz-uys.“
“Brutal,” his son responds.
