Summary: The WWE suspension of Hulk Hogan has been lifted.
Hulk Hogan has been reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame. He was previously suspended in 2015 after it was discovered that he had used racist language against African-Americans during a private discussion about his daughter. On Sunday, he tweeted his excitement in being allowed back into the popular wrestling organization.
“Just met with the @WWE Superstars and on all levels the volume of love and support was overwhelming,” Hogan, 64, tweeted. “I’ve been praying for this day and I finally feel like I made it back home. Only Love 4 the #WWEUNIVERSE brother HH.”
That day, the WWE also announced that they had lifted Hogan’s suspension and were giving him a second chance, according to Us Weekly.
“This second chance follows Hogan’s numerous public apologies and volunteering to work with young people, where he is helping them learn from his mistake,” WWE said in a statement. “These efforts led to a recent induction into the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame.”
Hogan told Us Weekly that there was no excuse for saying that word and that he was sorry.
“I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs. It is not who I am. I continue to work every day to improve as a person, and this matter is an important learning experience for me in that regard,” Hogan told Us.
In 2015, Gawker published a private conversation of Hogan’s where he used the N-word when talking about his daughter Brooke Hogan’s sex life. The website also published a sex tape between Hogan and his friend’s wife. The two were having a consensual affair, and Hogan sued Gawker for invasion of privacy.
Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker ended up bankrupting the gossip website after a jury awarded him $115 million. Gawker had tried to argue that since Hogan was a public figure his sex life was up for public consumption, but Hogan said that Hogan’s personal life as Terry Bollea was different than the character he portrayed in the public.
Hogan was represented by attorney Charles Harder, who was later hired by Melania Trump. Trump sued The Daily Mail for accusing her of once being an escort, and she was awarded $3 million and the British tabloid retracted their story.
Hogan’s case against Gawker was monumental, not only for the amount of damages he was awarded, but for the message to journalists that they were not exempt from losing libel and defamation lawsuits even if what they reported was true. Additionally, Hogan’s case was funded by billionaire Peter Thiel who held a grudge against the website’s owner after it outed Thiel as gay years earlier.
Thiel had spent almost $10 million fighting Gawker, and he said that his legal donations were “philanthropic.” The Gawker-Thiel-Hogan saga was chronicled in a documentary that was released on Netlflix in 2017. There are reports this year that another series is in the works as well.
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