Booker T speaks out on Hulk Hogan's 2015 racism scandal
By ALEX RASKIN
Hulk Hogan's recorded use of racial slurs and his own admission to being 'racist to a point' still doesn't matter to black wrestler and beloved WCW performer Booker T.
The famed member of the tag team, Harlem Heat, reacted to Hogan's recent passing by defending the legendary wrestler against allegations of racism. Hogan was infamously taped criticizing his daughter's African-American boyfriend in 2007, and while the recording didn't surface until 2015, his use of the N-word continues to tarnish his legacy in some circles.
Booker T, the 60-year-old Louisiana native born Booker T. Huffman Jr., is more forgiving because of some kindness Hogan showed him years earlier. When Booker T accidentally dropped the N-word in 1997 while referring to Hogan during a live promo for WCW, the wrestling legend born Terry Bollea didn't seek any retribution, instead offering support to Booker T.
'People labeled Hulk Hogan a racist [in 2015] when he made his comments,' Booker T said, defending his former WCW colleague. 'You normally know a racist by the people that they hang with, their friends. You normally know a racist by their kids.
'At that moment when I said that about Hulk Hogan, I said, 'Man, that was a moment right there for Hulk Hogan if he was a racist,' Booker T continued. 'A racist would have said, 'Man, I'm gonna get this sucker fired. I'm gonna do my best to get him out of here.' A racist would have said, 'Man, I'm gonna have him working for me now.' That's what a racist would have did.'
Hogan, Booker T explained, didn't do any of that.
Hogan gestures to the crowd during his Hulkamania Tour at the Burswood Dome in Perth
Booker T doesn't hold any animosity towards Hogan over the WWE legend's racism scandal
'I asked Hulk Hogan why didn't he get me fired, why didn't he go to the office and lobby to get me out of there,' Booker T said. 'He was, like, in shock. He was like: 'Brother I heard that word many times so it wasn't anything… I wouldn't go try to get another one of the wrestlers fired.'
Booker T continued to make his point with another memory from the aftermath of the 1997 incident.
Recalling a discussion about the comment between Hogan and fellow WCW star 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, Booker T said the Hulkster wasn't upset be referred to with the N-word.
'Well, if I'm an N-word, then I'm a good N-word,' Booker T remembered Hogan saying. 'And that was it.
'From that moment, in the 90s, we never spoke that until just last week on my radio show,' Booker T added. 'That's how irrelevant it really was.'
Booker T was upset about Hogan's use of the N-word, but didn't hold it against him
Booker T wasn't nearly so accepting of Hogan's use of the N-word when his infamous 2007 recording surfaced in 2015.
At the time, Booker T wrote on Twitter that it's '2015 and the n-word should be eradicated from the English language in my opinion.'
Like Hogan, Booker T spent time in both the WCW and WWE, although he's more associated with the former while Hogan is best known for his work with the latter.
These days Booker T is commentator on WWE's NXT circuit and he owns the independent Reality of Wrestling promotion.
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