WWE stopping fans from wearing Hulk Hogan merchandise to their events

WWE are continuing in their efforts to distance themselves from the biggest star in the company's history, Hulk Hogan, after The National Enquirer and their partner Radar Online published a series of stories about Hogan making racist and homophobic remarks during a secretly taped sex session with the former wife of Bubba The Love Sponge, Heather Cole, several years ago.

Not only did WWE fire Hogan immediately and replace him with The Miz as a Tough Enough judge, but they also told their partners to suspend work on any projects involving The Hulkster. This had led to Hulk Hogan being quickly pulled as a playable character by 2K Sports from their next WWE video game, WWE 2K16. Today, Mattel, via their official Twitter account, confirmed the reports that they too had followed suit by halting production on any future Hulk Hogan action figures:

@mmoorewriter We are committed to embracing people from all cultures & backgrounds. At this time, we will halt production on Hogan product.

— Mattel (@Mattel) July 28, 2015

@THEKILLERMANJOE At this time, we have decided to halt production on Hulk Hogan products.

— Mattel (@Mattel) July 28, 2015

Thus, so far, WWE's biggest partners have put up a united front in wanting to be disassociated with the tattered Hulk Hogan brand.

The same cannot be said with WWE's fanbase. Although many WWE fans support the company's swift action to disassociate themselves from Hogan or at the very least understand the need to do so for PR reasons, there's also a vocal minority who believe that WWE have unfairly abandoned him in his time of need. These are the type of fans who would continue to turn up to WWE events in Hogan's merchandise and bring with them signs of support.

However, according to Dave Meltzer on his latest Wrestling Observer Radio show, WWE are putting a stop to that, by telling fans at Monday Night Raw who were wearing Hulk Hogan T-shirts to put new shirts on and confiscating any Hogan signs before they entered the building. I'm in agreement with Meltzer that although usually I would be against such corporate censorship, in this case I can't blame WWE, as the impression that their fanbase would so brazenly support an admitted racist whilst the story still had mainstream traction would be damaging to their public image.

Meanwhile, Hogan himself has thankfully been keeping a low profile after he got fooled by pranksters on Twitter to retweet pictures of Premier League football players, purported to be of themselves and a mate, professing their support for the Hulkster, and also regretfully retweeting a message that noted the hypocrisy of Hogan being vilified for using a racial slur that President Barack Obama was applauded for doing so, revealing a shocking lack of understanding in the differences between the two situations.

That will change on Thursday morning when lawyers for Gawker Media and Hulk Hogan will appear in Florida’s Sixth Judicial Court for a hearing on Hogan's emergency motion that evidence unearthed in a separate but related freedom of information case between Gawker and the FBI remain confidential for the duration of the Hogan trial, according to Poynter.org. This evidence would include the new sex tapes that are the basis for The National Enquirer's racist exposé story last Friday. Clearly, Gawker would love to paint Hogan in the trial as a hypocrite who publicly espouses being in favour of diversity, whilst privately revealing his true prejudiced views, which is why they fought so hard to obtain the DVDs from the FBI, while equally Hogan's side has fought tooth and nail to prevent such arguments from being heard in court, as they would make their client deeply unsympathetic. Hogan's lawyers will argue that the leaking of quotes from the recordings held by the FBI raises serious concerns that Gawker have already violated the current confidentiality protections, which clearly make them the favourites to win this round of the ongoing legal war between the two sides.