Vince McMahon Defends Hulk Hogan In First Interview Since Lawsuit
Vince McMahon Defends Hulk Hogan in First Interview Since Lawsuit: ‘He Said Racist Things, But Wasn’t a Racist’
LOS ANGELES, CA – In his first public interview since resigning from TKO amid a sex trafficking lawsuit, Vince McMahon has broken his silence to defend the complex legacy of his late friend, Hulk Hogan. Speaking on the new documentary, TMZ Presents: The Real Hulk Hogan, McMahon addressed the 2015 racism scandal that nearly erased the wrestling icon from history.
TMZ showed footage of the moment they got the news Hulk Hogan died. This is from the documentary airing tonight on Fox.
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) August 12, 2025
Hulk Hogan, born Terry Bollea, passed away on July 24, 2025, at age 71. In the documentary, McMahon, 79, offered a controversial distinction regarding the leaked tape where Hogan was heard using racial slurs.
“I knew he wasn’t a racist, I’d been with him for so many years,” McMahon stated, explaining his decision to bring Hogan back to WWE in 2018 after a three-year exile. “He said some racist things, and he should pay for that, and he did. But in the end, I think that everyone saw the real Hulk Hogan… We all make mistakes. That was a big one, but he wasn’t a racist.”
Confronting an “Unforgivable” Scandal
The scandal erupted in 2015 when a recording surfaced of Hogan on a rant about his daughter, Brooke, dating a Black man. In the tape, he used the n-word multiple times and admitted, “I am racist, to a point.”
McMahon recalled his shock at the time. “It was unforgivable and I was aghast,” he admitted. “As soon as it happened, obviously, the company didn’t have anything to do with him anymore. We took him out of the Hall of Fame. You just don’t do those things.”
Despite the initial condemnation, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame and brought back into the fold three years later, making sporadic appearances. However, his final televised appearance in January 2025 was met with widespread boos from the live audience, a sign that many fans had not forgiven his transgressions.
McMahon expressed anger over that final segment, blaming poor production. “It wasn’t set up properly… setting up, so to speak, this larger than life superhero, you don’t just let him walk out there,” he argued, insisting Hogan “deserved something very, very special.”
A Day of Tragedy and Turmoil
Elsewhere in the documentary, McMahon shared his profound grief over Hogan’s death. “You don’t think about someone… that close to you, you don’t think about them passing away,” he said emotionally. “It was a tremendous shot. It was a blow to my heart.”
In a bizarre twist of fate, McMahon was involved in his own high-profile incident on the very day Hogan died. He was accused of causing a multi-car accident in Connecticut that wrecked his Bentley. While no one was injured, McMahon was cited for reckless driving and is scheduled to appear in Stamford Superior Court on August 26, 2025.
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