No, this one’s a little longer.
With disgraced former champion Hulk Hogan returning to WWE’s Hall of Fame (and possibly WWE television at some point) after a “three-year suspension” for racist comments leaked during his lawsuit against Gawker, a lot of focus has rightfully been placed on how WWE’s black Superstars feel about it. There have been stories of Titus O’Neil being upset, Mark Henry’s conversation with Hogan from backstage at Extreme Rules, and now WWE’s top black stars, The New Day, have issued a statement — their only statement, per the group — on the matter.
— Kofi Kingston (@TrueKofi) July 18, 2018
The transcript:
To the WWE Universe and whoever else it may concern:
This will be the only statement we will make regarding Hogan’s reinstatement into WWE’s Hall of Fame. We do not wish to spend the energy debating the point, because between our kids, our external ventures, and this job, our energy is spread thin enough already, lol.
We are only writing this simply to provide an answer to the many who have bombarded us with questions on where we stand on the issue.
We preface this statement by emphasizing that this is our own opinion and may not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone else affected.
How do we feel? Indifferent. We are not happy, or sad, angry or resentful. Who WWE puts into the HOF is totally and completely up to the company and from a career standpoint, there is no argument on whether or not Hogan should have his place. We have no problem with his re-induction in the slightest degree. It is impossible to even begin to mention the history and evolution of the business without mentioning his name and accolades.
On a personal level, when someone makes racist and hateful comments about any race or group of people, especially to the degree that Hogan made about our people, we find it difficult to simply forget, regardless of how long ago it was, or the situation in which those comments were made. But we also do not respond with more feelings of hate. Instead, we just do not associate with the people who convey or have conveyed this negative and hurtful mindset. This instance will be no different. Perhaps if we see him make a genuine effort to change, then maybe our opinion will change with him. Time will tell.
Through the course of our lives, people have used racist comments towards us and it doesn’t feel good. But if we stopped moving forward every time we were met with prejudicial hatred, then we would have never achieved our current accomplishments.
We know we are worth it, we know our kids are worth it, and most importantly, we know that
people that look like us are worth it and always have been. There isn’t a person on this planet who will be ever be able to say anything to make us think otherwise because we believe in ourselves as a people and don’t need anyones approval on that, regardless of who they are.Having said that, his reinstatement won’t change anything for us. It will have zero effect on our ability to perform or the level of effort we will put into doing what we love to do, and that is: To deliver an entertaining product each week for our fan base.
Sincerely,
– The New Day
“Never trade your authenticity for approval.”
Titus O’Neil showed support for New Day’s statement as well, adding, “In FULL AGREEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EVERYTHING SAID IN THIS STATEMENT. MY additional response to this from to follow as there have been NUMEROUS ERRONEOUS reports on my Views and Response-to this situation.”
In lieu of any further opinion on the matter, we recommend you head over to Shadow League and read David Dennis’ take. From a purely fan perspective, let’s just hope Hogan’s contributions to WWE are limited to PR videos, PSA assemblies, showing up in the video games, and maybe as a picture somewhere at WrestleMania Axxess.
