Jimmy Hart On If Hulk Hogan Would Ever Make Racist Comments, Eric Bischoff Ripping His Idea In WCW
On the final episode of WWE Network's Legends With JBL, 'The Mouth Of The South' Jimmy Hart talked about his favorite acts to manage as well as whether Hulk Hogan is a racist.
According to Hart, his favorites to manage were Hulk Hogan, The Hart Foundation, and The Honky Tonk Man. On the subject of The Honky Tonk Man, Hart described him as "different" and "great". As for The Hart Foundation, Hart recalled that he began managing 'The Anvil' as a singles competitor.
"Jim Neidhart, we were by ourselves, and two months later, they go, 'Jimmy, we're going to bring a guy in. He's from Calgary [Canada]. It's Bret Hart. He doesn't talk very much, but he's very good in the ring,' so we brought him in. So we had Bret Hart, Neidhart, and Jimmy Hart, The Hart Foundation."
Hart said that he enjoyed managing The All-American Boys, as Jacques Rougeau is very funny. Hart, who wrote many WWE entrance themes, including Shawn Michaels' 'Sexy Boy' song, shared a story of Rougeau hearing the lyrics to the song for his character, The Mountie.
"When we put the song together, The Mountie, and he goes, 'let me hear the words.' I'm going, 'I'm The Mountie, I'm happy, I'm gay, I'm free.' He goes, 'wait a minute, wait a minute!' I said, 'No, Jacques, 'gay means happy,' which it did and that's what it really means, so he did his voice in it."
Hart, who managed The Nasty Boys, wanted the tandem to do a Beavis and Butt-Head gimmick in WCW, which Eric Bischoff apparently told Hart was the "worst idea".
"Of course, I had The Nasty Boys and The Nasty Boys are still fun to be with. Knobbs, I wanted to turn them into Beavis and Butthead in WCW. I had the couch and everything made because they look like Beavis and Butthead, right?" Hart continued, "they'd do like a Piper's Pit and sit on the couch and do it! I thought that was a real clever idea and Eric goes, 'that is the worst idea I've ever heard.'"
When asked whether Hogan is a racist, Hart suggested that Hogan was never racist in all their time together. Hart indicated that Hogan was going through a difficult time with his wife leaving him.
"See, that's what's so crazy. I've been with him more than anybody and I could sit here and go, 'oh, naw, naw, naw'. I'm just going to tell it like it is. From Memphis [Tennessee] on down with Hulk back then till my early days up here, WCW, all of that stuff, not one time did we ever sit in the car and sit with me and go, 'look at this blah, blah, blah. Look over here on this.' I think what happened on the deal, and like anything else, having a pity party, drinking, his wife left him, 'poor is me', 'oh whoa is me'."
Hart stated that Hogan was abusing alcohol at the time that he made the racial slurs.
"Absolutely [Hogan was under the influence at the time of the comments], but still no excuse." Hart continued, "to me, if you really are [racist], you have to let it slip more than one time. I mean, if you're really a racist, people have got to see it over and over and over and over and over."
Hart remembered that a week after the incident, African-American athletes Scottie Pippen and Mike Tyson greeted Hogan as though nothing happened.
"And the weird thing about it, the next week, we have to go to Chicago [Illinois]. We're in Chicago, Scottie Pippen, 'Hulkster! Let me get a picture made with you!' 'Oh, okay.' Mike Tyson, 'hey, Hulk, can we get a picture with these for my kids over here?' Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 'Okay, fine.' But it has been all over the news now and I'm thinking to myself, 'man, they must not got the memo or something' because, I mean, we're expecting, we had security with us, we were expecting the worst. It was like they never said [anything]. It was weird to me on that."
Hart divulged that the toughest thing for Hogan has been WWE cutting ties.
"The devastating thing to Hulk, more than anything, is what happened with his affiliation with here. That's the thing that has tore him up more than anything. We talk every day or every other day and he watches RAW every Monday night. I'm being honest with you. He watches. He goes, 'they did this' and 'I saw this', 'oh my God, did you see that?' 'Yeah, Hulk, I did.' And I know what he's going through, but sometimes I feel like I want to say, 'Hulk, get over it. You've had a great career. It has been awesome. People still love you. WWE still loves you. They've got to move on and do what's best for business, best for them.'"
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Source: Legends With JBL