Audio of Hulk Hogan's racist tirade released

Last Summer, Hulk Hogan was fired from WWE for racist statements he made eight years ago during a conversation with Heather Clem (now Cole), then wife of his friend Bubba "the Love Sponge" Clem, which was recorded along with their having sex without Hogan's consent.

The "sex tape" portion of the video was released by the website Gawker, and prompted a lawsuit from Hogan. A July 2015 report from the National Enquirer revealing that Hulk referred to black people by the "n word" lead to his dismissal from WWE and the loss of other endorsements and partnerships.

As a result of legal manuevers during the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial, the Florida 2nd District Court of Appeals released documents related to the website's attempts to get Hogan's racist statements admitted as evidence (in order to show that that portion of the tape was what he wanted supressed and his issue was not primarily about the privacy of his sex life). Included in those documents are FBI tapes of Hogan and his attorney watching the recording with a "sex tape broker".

(For more coverage of the trial, follow the reporting of our own Keith Harris via the links in this post.)

David Bixenspan and Maria Bustillos of Death & Taxes Magazine listened to the more than three hours of audio, and have released the clip containing the statements reported by the Enquirer which lead to Hogan's firing. You can listen to that below, if you choose:

The audio is not of high quality, and is redacted in parts to eliminate anything said by participants who did not sign waivers relating to the Gawker trial. But towards the end, you can hear Hulk make the statements which initially sparked outrage last July:

Hogan: So it gets to the point where...I dunno if Brooke was f***ing the black guy's son, or they've been hanging out. I caught them holding hands together on the tour. They were getting close to kind of [inaudible] the f***ing [inaudible]. I'm not a double standard type of guy. I'm a racist to a point, y'know, fucking n*****s, but then, when it comes to nice people and [redacted]

Clem: We all are that way.

Hogan: Yeah, cool, when it comes to nice people, you gotta...you can't, you can't say the...

[Two-second redaction]

Hogan: I don't give a fuck if she [inaudible] [an eight foot tall?] basketball player.

Clem: [laughs]

Hogan: If we're gonna fuck with n*****s, let's get a rich one!

Gawker is appealing the initial jury ruling of $115 million dollars in damages. The documents from which Bixenspan and Bustillos culled this audio will likely play a role in subsequent legal proceedings.