Hulk Hogan’s return to WWE on the day of Extreme Rules certainly got the wrestling world talking, but not for all the right reasons.
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Hours before the PPV went on the air, Hogan came backstage in Pittsburgh and addressed the WWE locker room. The purpose was to give an apology for extremely racist remarks he was videotaped saying over a decade ago which came of light in 2015 as part of a sex tape release.
The apology by Hogan was immediately criticized due to the nature of his words. Many felt that Hogan’s remorse was more centered on the fact that he regretted not being aware that he could be recorded at any moment rather than the fact that the comments were hateful and bigoted.
Several WWE stars have since spoken out about how Hogan’s words made them feel. Both The New Day and Titus O’Neil had particularly eloquent statements on the matter. O’Neil commented further this week during an appearance on Busted Open Radio.
“This is not about second or third chances,” Titus O’Neil explained. “This is about a man making a decision to make statements that he truly felt in his heart I believe at that time. He may not feel that way now, he may regret it. But to come out and say, ‘I didn’t know I was being recorded’ and ‘ be careful what you say’ and ‘I don’t remember saying that stuff.’ When you start out an apology like that. Dude, you lost it already. I wanted to give him a chance, I didn’t know what that meeting was about going in but I wanted to give him a chance.
“He legitimately screwed that all up because again, it’s not about making a mistake. It’s not a mistake. You’re talking about historically using language and saying things that a lot of people in our business unfortunately have said in the past. Although our business has come a long way from where it used to be, there are still some people in this business that speak that way they just aren’t recorded. So Hulk Hogan or Terry Bollea is not the only person that have used those type of comments. I know that for a fact.”
O’Neil went on to explain that he’d rather Hogan show remorse through actions versus words. He also addressed Hogan’s previous explanation for using the “n-word,” which he explained back in 2015 as being a term people in his neighborhood used frequently as a greeting in Tampa. That explanation was refuted by people who grew up in the same neighborhood as him, and O’Neil put the explanation to bed during his interview with Busted Open.
“First of all you grew up in the 60’s,” O’Neil explained. “I don’t know any black man that would let you call him that in the 60’s. You grew up in South Tampa, you went to Robinson High School. I live in Tampa, Robinson High School was not a predominantly black school in the time that he went to high school. Most of the people he wrestled with, Mike Graham — Eddie Graham’s kid — you know Steve Keirn, these guys all went to high school with him.
He continued, “So don’t tell me that’s how you spoke in the 60’s. There’s no realistic way that you can even come close to telling me that was okay with any black man at that time. So again, the inconsistencies of the apology along with the lack of remorse and contrition with the apology are the reason why I felt and many others felt at that meeting that this was a complete waste of our time.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcript.
