Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson is disappointed with his pal and fellow professional wrestler Hulk Hogan’s racist remarks, but Johnson wouldn’t consider Terry Bollea a “racist.” In fact, the wrestler-turned-actor understands that everyone’s talked trash at some point.
“I was pretty disappointed with what I heard, like all of us, by the way. Pretty disappointed,” Johnson said during the 2015 TCA press tour panel for HBO’s Ballers on Thursday, July 30. “I’ve known Terry for a lot of years, my dad helped train him in Florida in the ’70s when he was breaking into the business…My uncles helped train him too as well. I have not known the man to be racist,” the actor told the crowd.
Audio of the Hulk using the N-word and making racist remarks leaked last week.
Despite being disappointed in the former reality star, who was dropped by the WWE following the scandal and has since apologized for his remarks, Johnson can sympathize with him.
“It’s funny, it’s one of those things where — and [I’m] not justifying what he said — we’ve all talked trash, especially in private,” the actor said. “He said what he said, and he’s paying the price.”
Hogan isn’t denying the remarks either. In a statement to Us Weekly, the Hulk apologized for using “offensive language,” and his lawyer, David Houston, told Us that he “accepts ownership.”
Houston and the rest of the Hulk’s legal term are still investigating who leaked the audio.
