While appearing on Good Morning America Monday, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan opened up about using a racial slur in the past, which came to light in July 2015 and resulted in the WWE severing ties with Hogan, a.k.a. Terry Bollea. In addition to breaking his silence about the controversy Hogan declared that he is not a racist, all while admitting he was wrong for making such derogatory remarks. He told GMA,
I'm not a racist but I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it. People need to realize that you inherit things from your environment. And where I grew up was south Tampa, Port Tampa, and it was a really rough neighborhood, very low income. And all my friends, we greeted each other saying that word.
With that said, Hogan said that his remarks are still not OK. Hogan also begged fans to please forgive him, "Oh my gosh please forgive me. Please forgive me. I'm a nice guy. It's not the Hulk Hogan that rips his shirt off and bang, bang, bang slams giants. I'm Terry Bollea. I'm just a normal man."
When this scandal made headlines in July, Hogan released the following apology to People:
Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it. This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs.
