Hulk Hogan is under fire for asking a crowd if they wanted him to “body slam” Kamala Harris. While promoting his new Real American Beer at an unnamed Ohio venue, the 71-year-old wrestling legend, who appeared intoxicated, asked the crowd, “Do you want me to body slam Kamala Harris? Do you want me to drop the leg on Kamala?”
He then went on to ask if the audience believed the Vice President was a chameleon, followed by, “Is she Indian?” After asking the latter question, he made a hand gesture and said “How” – alluding to a stereotypical Native American greeting. The wrestler appeared to regret that statement and said he would take “heat” for it. “That was not me, that was the beers talking,” he said.
The star, whose real name is Terry Bollea, later told reporters that his remarks were a joke.
The wrestler is no stranger to controversy and was removed from the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 for making racist remarks. A video of Hogan using racial slurs was published by the National Inquirer that year, and he defended them saying all people are “a little racist.” He later apologized and said the episode was the most regretful of his life. In 2018, he was reinstated to the Hall of Fame.
Hogan’s appearance at this year’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee cemented his support for Donald Trump. He made a speech and ripped off his shirt, as he has done throughout his wrestling career. The wrestler referred to Trump as his “hero” and said the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, brought him into the political world. “I tried to stay out of politics,” he stated, before adding that everything that has happened in America over the last four years meant he could “no longer stay silent.”
Other key figures from the world of wrestling were also present at the RNC, including Ultimate Fighting Champion founder Dana White and Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Now chair of the America First Policy Institute, McMahon described Trump as a “job creator” who fights for business people because he understands them.
