He’s beaten Andre the Giant, the Iron Sheik and The Rock. In fact, in his illustrious wrestling career, it’s hard to find another contemporary wrestler Hulk Hogan has failed to pin or submit. Until now, Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, recently came up against a heel the ultimate WWE babyface could not handle – his own mouth.
Now, there’s an argument to be made here that all of this is much ado about nothing. Hogan made the comments in private during an intimate encounter that was being taped without his knowledge. Worse, the entire incident happened years ago. Who really wants to be held accountable for foolish things they said years ago? Well, in the brave new world of social media, that’s exactly what’s happening. And, now, it’s cost Hogan not only his career but also his legacy.
“In the 80s and early 90s, Hollywood Hulk Hogan was the ultimate star in TVs ultimate sports melodrama”, according to New York entrepreneur Jonah Engler. It could be said that Hogan put professional wrestling on the national map. Sure there were superstars before him, but none put the sport over more than Hogan. He was universally loved by fans and respected by notoriously tough to impress corporate bigwigs like WWE mega promoter Vince McMahon.
Now, about a year after his much-ballyhooed return to the WWE, Hogan is out on his red and yellow backside. Fired from the company and, insult to injury, all mention of him and his Hall of Fame career has reportedly been scrubbed from the company website.
Sure, he was spewing racial epithets in a video shot while he was also fooling around with his best friend’s wife, but some sins are forgivable. In today’s PR climate, racism of any kind is a no-go. Fool around with another guy’s wife? Nasty, but more embarrassing than damaging. Make sense? Not to Hogan. While he has apologized for his words (three years later, mind you), he has yet to say too much about the fact that he’s on the tape at all. Nobody else seems concerned about it either. That seeming dichotomy might strike some folks as odd, but it leads to a vital PR principle.
Your personal understanding of morality is less important than your audience’s personal understanding of morality. Just because you might think something is no big deal, doesn’t mean the people paying your brand are okay with it. You need to know where those two worldviews diverge before you say or do something you can’t take back. Wrestling may be fake, but this result is very, very real. And there probably won’t be a rematch.
