“You Want Me to Body Slam Kamala Harris?”: Hulk Hogan’s Rant Sparks Outrage
On Tuesday night, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan found himself at the center of controversy after a video surfaced of him making inflammatory remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris. The video, originally published by TMZ, captured Hogan addressing a crowd of enthusiastic supporters with a mix of bravado and racially charged rhetoric.
Hogan, a figure once beloved by millions of wrestling fans, took the stage and immediately launched into a provocative tirade. “You want me to body slam Kamala Harris? Do you want me to drop the leg on Kamala?” he shouted, as the crowd responded with cheers. But the spectacle didn’t end there.
As the crowd egged him on, Hogan pivoted to questioning Harris’s ethnicity in a manner that quickly turned offensive. “Is Kamala a chameleon? Is she Indian?” he asked, before raising his hand in a mocking gesture and saying, “How,” conflating Harris’s Indian heritage with Native American culture in a display of ignorance and insensitivity.
The backlash was swift. Critics from various quarters condemned Hogan for his remarks, calling them racist and deeply troubling. Wrestler and former NFL player AJ Francis expressed his dismay on Twitter, writing, “It is consistently so embarrassing as a black man and a wrestler when people ask me who my favorite wrestler was when I started watching wrestling as a kid and I have to admit it was Hulk Hogan…” His words echoed the sentiments of many who had once admired Hogan but now felt betrayed by his actions.
Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, also voiced her disappointment, sharing that she had once been a fan of Hogan. “As a kid, I used to love Hulk Hogan,” she admitted. “But he continued to expose himself as a racist, sad, pathetic, terrible human being.” Her words underscored the deep sense of loss felt by those who had once looked up to the wrestling icon.
Journalist Dana Abercrombie didn’t hold back either, summarizing the incident as, “A racist and drunk Hulk Hogan threatens Kamala Harris and says a bunch of racist stuff,” while actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. expressed his anger bluntly: “MOTHAF— HULK HOGAN!!! I might have to make a segment on my wrestling podcast just to make sure I hate on this mf every episode.”
The incident also drew criticism from political commentators. Journalist Mehdi Hasan highlighted the irony of Hogan’s place in conservative circles, noting, “This is the guy the GOP cheered on at their convention and who CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings was praising on air just tonight.”
Former federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski echoed this sentiment, writing, “The Keynote Speaker at the Republican National Convention. This is Trump, this is MAGA,” drawing a direct line between Hogan’s rhetoric and the broader political climate.
Hogan’s outburst and the ensuing backlash have reignited discussions about racism in both the entertainment industry and politics, leaving many to question how far some will go to align themselves with controversial figures, even at the cost of alienating former fans.