Hulk Hogan was undoubtedly crucial to WWE's stratospheric popularity during the 1980s and 1990s, but he was also a hugely controversial figure on screen and off. Hogan (real name Terry Gene Bollea) - who died at age 71 in July 2025 - publicly apologized in 2015 after leaked sex tape footage caught him using a racial slur and referring to himself as "racist, to a point." A source exclusively told Us Weekly following Hogan's death that the wrestler and his loved ones endured "a very hard time" due to the scandal.