AEW News: Tony Khan Explains Why Hulk Hogan Is Banned From His Company

When All Elite Wrestling (AEW) president and CEO Tony Khan tweeted earlier this week that Hulk Hogan’s ex-wife, Linda Hogan, “joined [her ex-] husband” in being banned from the company, it was clear that this was in response to her Twitter post about how all the looters in the riots over the death of George Floyd were supposedly African American. While he didn’t elaborate at that time on why “The Hulkster” was banned, the AEW boss got to open up on the matter in a recent interview with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

On Friday, Wrestling Inc. cited this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer, where Khan explained it had been quite some time ago when he made the decision to ban Hulk Hogan from his promotion. As he related, this took place around 2015, shortly after Hogan was caught on tape making racist comments about African Americans.

“What he said on the tape, long before George Floyd, I’ve told people I can’t work with Hulk Hogan,” Khan was quoted as saying.

Due to the leaked remarks, Hogan was immediately fired by WWE and removed from the company’s Hall of Fame. As noted by Bleacher Report, the legendary wrestler was reinstated three years later, around the same time he showed up backstage at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view and personally apologized for his past comments. His apology drew mixed reactions from WWE superstars, many of whom pointed out that he seemed to be more sorry for the fact he was caught than he was for using racially offensive language.

As further quoted by Wrestling Inc., it was the perceived nature of Hogan’s 2018 apology that Khan cited as another reason why he wouldn’t want to hire the former WWE Champion for AEW, despite his impressive track record as an in-ring performer.

“How can I look my Black friends, football players, employees in the face or myself in the mirror after the things [Hulk] said and has never given an adequate apology for? He can’t blame what he said on tape on the dangers of social media.”

Hulk and Linda Hogan aren’t the only longtime wrestling personalities who have been in the news this month for making remarks that have been construed as racist — either in previous years or in the days following Floyd’s death. The Inquisitr reported this week that WWE Hall of Famer Tammy Sytch (aka Sunny) received flak for offering a discount to people of color who may be interested in subscribing to her OnlyFans page.