HBO series "Ballers" star Dwayne Johnson has given his thoughts about the recent racism scandal that involved his fellow WWE wrestler Terry Bollea, 61, professionally known as Hulk Hogan.
"I was pretty disappointed with what I heard," Johnson said at a Television Critics Association panel at the Beverly Hilton speaking via satellite. On the other hand, he made it clear that he has not known the former WWE Hall-of-Famer to be a racist in all the time he has known him.
Johnson went on to reveal that his father and his uncle helped train Hogan in Florida in the 1970s. While pointing out that he did not know Hogan to be a racist, the "Ballers" star said he is "not justifying what he said but we've all talked trash, especially in private, and he's paid the price."
After an audio transcript was released featuring him making racial slurs, Hogan immediately apologized. In a statement released to People, Hogan admitted to having "used offensive language during a conversation" eight years ago.
"It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it," Hogan said in the statement. Having officially resigned from WWE, he was removed from the WWE Hall-of-Fame on July 24.
Also during the TCA, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo defended "Ballers" from a mailer from rival pay cabler Starz, which pitted "Survivor's Remorse" against the new TV series starring Johnson.
"What's 'Survivor's Remorse?'" Hollywood Reporter quoted Lombardo as saying. He added that some critics loved "Ballers" while some did not. He also emphasized that "Ballers" is currently the highest rated comedy of HBO in more than a half a decade with an average of nine million viewers.