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“Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing, bicep-busting icon of professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and stretched his influence into TV, pop culture and conservative politics during a long and scandal-plagued second act, died Thursday in Florida at age 71…
“Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. But outside [the] ring, Hogan also found trouble. WWE in 2015 cut ties with him for three years, even removing him from its Hall of Fame, after it was reported that he was recorded using racial slurs about Blacks. He apologized and said his words were ‘unacceptable.’…
“In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million in a lawsuit against Gawker Media and then added $25 million in punitive damages. Hogan sued after Gawker in 2012 obtained and posted video of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife. He said the post violated his privacy. Hogan ended up settling the case for millions less after Gawker filed for bankruptcy.” AP News
The left criticizes Hogan and defends Gawker.
“[Hogan’s] catchphrases — ‘Eat your vitamins and say your prayers, brother!’ — his finishing move, the big leg drop, and his larger-than-life persona and physique played a central, if not indispensable, role in this story. In the mid-1980s, Hulk Hogan became the most popular professional wrestler in the world. ‘Hulkamania’ was a generation-defining event and was, quite literally, everywhere…
“Products of an age of hypermedia and extreme spectacle, both [Hogan and Trump] are characters and symbols more than they are people. [They] are fabulists with a documented history of telling obvious lies and abusing the truth. Being ‘real Americans’ and ‘patriots’ is central to both of their brands and popularity. Hulk Hogan, Trump and MAGA all embody the same anti-intellectual, demagogic, juvenile, adolescent male power fantasy: That big muscles, sheer will and violence can fix everything.”
Chauncey DeVega, Salon
“[Hogan was], by all accounts and evidence, an absolutely pathetic and reprehensible human being. His great moment of infamy, of course, will always be his notorious ‘racism’ tape where he, well, told the world that he is a racist. That incident got him temporarily shunned from the WWE… In Hogan’s last appearance on televised wrestling earlier this year he was booed out of the arena…
“But racism isn’t all that destroyed Hogan’s legacy… Hogan repeatedly shot down dream matches against opponents he thought were beneath him, like Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. He insisted on winning titles even when he had no interest in defending them in matches. He faked an injury in an attempt to smear WWE legend The Undertaker as an unsafe wrestler… He, personally, is why professional wrestlers have never been able to form a union… And in one of his final public acts, Hulk Hogan endorsed Donald Trump.”
Carl Beijer, Jacobin Magazine
Regarding Gawker, it “was largely an entertainment site that, on its best days, reported presciently about powerful people behaving badly. The site published stories about allegations of sexual misconduct by many celebrities long before the #MeToo movement and published Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book way back in 2015…
“It could also be frivolous, crass and even mean, which often rankled the powerful people it covered. But journalists’ frivolity, vulgarity and snark all happen to be protected by the First Amendment, as long as what they write is truthful…
“Journalism, at its best, exists to hold people with power accountable for their abuse of it. It is difficult, if not impossible, to do our work if we can be bankrupted by lawsuits any time powerful people decide they don’t like how they were covered… Mr. Thiel and Mr. Hogan created a playbook for deep-pocketed people to pressure news outlets by weaponizing the judicial process.”
Elizabeth Spiers, New York Times
The right praises Hogan and criticizes Gawker.
The right praises Hogan and criticizes Gawker.
“He was perfect for the era. If President Ronald Reagan hated commies and terrorists, Hulk Hogan did too. After portraying the dastardly wrestler ‘Thunderlips’ in Rocky III, Hogan formed an alliance with mega-action TV star Mr. T, appearing on his hit television show The A-Team, and Mr. T would in turn [take] part in the first Wrestlemania. Hogan even hosted Saturday Night Live…
“Hulk Hogan action figures. Hogan sleeping bags. Hulk posters, shirts and pins. If you could put Hulk Hogan on it, WWF was going to sell it to you… I distinctly remember being in shop class in the seventh grade and the buzz among the boys was over whether or not Hulk Hogan could actually physically pick up the gargantuan Andre the Giant. There was no consensus. There was debate. But of course, Hogan did. Hulk Hogan could do anything. That was the point…
“But if professional wrestling is one of America’s most famous entertainment exports, and it is, its face for the last half century has been Hulk Hogan’s. Perhaps Vice President J.D. Vance summed up Hogan after his passing best: ‘Hulk Hogan was a great American icon. One of the first people I ever truly admired as a kid.’ Vance is a decade younger than me, but still part of a generation of young American boys who felt the same about an unforgettable childhood hero for so many.”
Jack Hunter, Spectator World
“In the ring, his work was limited, formulaic and unimpactful. On the mic, he was not known for eloquence or wit. But he made people care… He had a phenomenal ability to captivate a crowd — to make people believe that the outcome of a pre-determined athletic spectacle was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HAVE EVER TAKEN PLACE…
“He was so charismatic, and so committed to his role, that even a glance at his viewers would elicit screams. You can neither teach nor buy that sort of charisma.”
Ben Sixsmith, The Critic
“The primary reason I will forever fondly remember the Hulkster is that he is one of the men who helped destroy Gawker Media, arguably the foulest, most ethically corrupt, and generally most corrosive media corporation of the 21st century… Deadspin once happily relied on a gay hustler to out a random media executive as homosexual (the hustler had unsuccessfully tried to blackmail the executive; Gawker was presumably his avenue of last resort)…
“Everyone was grist for the mill, really: If clicks could be wrung out of spotlighting, shaming, and destroying even complete civilians, then to hell with them. Gawker infamously posted a video of a drunken girl having sex in the bathroom of a college bar. When the girl in the video pleaded with Gawker to remove it, editor A. J. Daulerio emailed her a three-word reply: ‘blah blah blah.’ He later conceded that he didn’t know if it was a rape or not, and didn’t care.”
Jeffrey Blehar, National Review
