Hulk Hogan On His Honesty, His Talent, If He's A Celebrity, & More In Gawker Lawsuit Deposition
A few days ago, BuzzFeed News posted an article on the background of what led up to Gawker posted the sex tape of Hulk Hogan and Heather Cole that was shot without his knowledge. It's well worth reading if you have an interest in the case, but they also posted scans of some of the court filings that Mary Ann Georgantopoulos sourced in writing the article, including one with excerpts of Hogan's deposition in the case. Given the sheer breadth of topics covered in depositions, there are actually some fairly candid answers from Hogan about his wrestling career, his celebrity life, and more.
On how the geopolitical landscape of the early '80s influenced his career:
Well, when the Hulkamania phenom first exploded, politically?we were at odds with Iran politically, and the character of Hulk Hogan is an all-American character. And I was wrestling for the WWE world heavyweight title against the Iron Sheik, who was the legitimate bodyguard of the Shah of Iran and a silver medalist amateur AAU wrestler. So the political environment was perfect at the time for an all-American hero to go against the real bodyguard of the Shah of Iran.
The ways in which he's a talented professional wrestler:
In-ring instinct, cadence, physicality, reading a crowd, just a general overall understanding of the wrestling business inside and outside the ring, which it takes a lot of talent just to understand how things are done and execute them.
Discussing his honesty with Gawker attorney Seth Berlin:
Berlin: Do you believe you have a reputation for honesty?
Hogan: Yes.
Berlin: For being a straight shooter?
Hogan: Yes.
Berlin: For telling it like it is?
Hogan: I don't know about that one.
How does Hogan define if someone's a celebrity?
Celebrity? My definition is probably different than?than most people, I'm sure. But my definition of a celebrity is someone who's been around long enough or mad enough f an impact doing radio or TV for whatever length of time it takes them to make a huge impact where they are recognizable by name, look, or vehicle that they?you know, they're on, which is a movie or whatever it is. A celebrity?you know, there are so many people on TV now and the universe is so big with everybody being part of the media that I can't y everybody that's on TV or radio is a celebrity. To me a celebrity is someone that's very, very well established nd is?is?you know. I don't now how to explain it, just someone that's very established in the celebrity world, if you?or whatever the word celebrity means.
Using that definition, does he consider himself a celebrity?
At this point, yes.
How long has he been a celebrity?
I would say from the mid '80s on, I probably crossed the media barriers. And it started?I'm not sure if I?but in my opinion, my definition of what a celebrity is, I don't know if I became a celebrity until the mid '90s, but I started crossing some barriers in the '80s, cover of Sports Illustrated and started doing talk shows. But I think it took a while before I came a household word or whatever the real word of celebrity means.
On his memory after he dated Hogan Knows Best as having taken place in the mid '90s and was then asked if mid 2000s sounded more accurate relative to his kids' ages:
Yeah. If we backed up from their ages, yeah, I'm just not real good with dates or years or names, brother.
When asked if he the "sexy" parts of a commercial (most likely this one, which features Jimmy Hart and a twerking woman) for his restaurant (later clarified by Gawker's lawyer to be referring to shots of a woman's butt) reflected how h wanted the restaurant to be seen?
You find Jimmy Hart sexy?