On Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter announced Netflix is close to greenlighting a Hulk Hogan biopic directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Joker) starring Chris Hemsworth as Terry Bollea, a.k.a. Hulk Hogan. While the movie will cover Hogan's 80s rise through the ranks of the World Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Entertainment), it will avoid latter-year scandals, including the racist rant that got him fired from the wrestling organization in 2015.
What Netflix's Hulk Hogan Biopic Won't Include
In 2015, Hogan launched a lawsuit against Gawker Media, ostensibly over a 2012 post to Gawker.com which included a two-minute excerpt from a 30-minute video showing Bollea have sex with Heather Clem, wife of Florida radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. It was later revealed that Hogan's lawsuit was part of a $10 million effort by billionaire Peter Thiel aimed at bankrupting the media organization—which he called a "Manhattan-Based Terrorist Organization"—in revenge for a blog post about Thiel's sex life, which the Paypal co-founder believed portrayed him as having psychological problems.
While the lawsuit was successful in bankrupting Gawker Media, the full audio from the court-sealed sex tape leaked to the National Enquirer, revealing a racist conversation which ultimately resulted in Hogan's firing from the WWE.
"I mean, I don't have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, fucking n-----s. But then when it comes to nice and people and shit, and whatever," Hogan said, complaining to Heather about his daughter, Brooke, and her relationship with a black man. "I mean, I'd rather if she was going to fuck some n----r, I'd rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n----r worth a hundred million dollars, like a basketball player."
In response, the WWE removed Hogan from promotional material and the WWE Hall of Fame. In 2018, Hogan was reinstated—making appearances in Saudi Arabia and eulogizing Hall of Fame announcer Gene Okerlund—despite objections from WWE wrestlers Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, collectively known as The New Day. "We find it difficult to simply forget," Kingston wrote in a statement. "Perhaps if we see him make a genuine effort to change, then maybe our opinion will change with him."
— 🎅🏿 KOF’ KRINGLE 🎅🏿 (@TrueKofi) July 18, 2018
"I'm not a racist. I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it. But a lot of people need to realize you inherit things from your environment," Hogan said on Good Morning America. "All of my friends, we greeted each other saying that word. The word was just thrown around like it was nothing."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "the biopic will not delve into those years," instead focusing on the origins of 80s Hulkamania. With Hulk Hogan himself serving as consultant and executive producer to the upcoming Netflix movie about his life, it looks like the movie will instead serve as an effort in reputational rehabilitation.
The new Hulk Hogan biopic starring Chris Hemsworth as the Hulkster doesn't yet have a release date.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
