Chelsea Green Apologises For Hulk Hogan Tribute (WWE News)
WWE star Chelsea Green has clarified her comments about Hulk Hogan's death.
WWE star Chelsea Green has clarified and apologised for her comments about Hulk Hogan's legacy and death during an interview with CBS. The former (and first ever) Women's United States Champion told reporters that Hogan will go down in history as an "American icon", and generally kept things respectful during the chat.
She spoke of Hulk's impact on herself as a performer and other pro wrestlers, then went on to say that she'd see him out and about in Florida occasionally. Overall, the CBS piece was positive. Green also sent her thoughts and prayers to Hogan's friends and family at this sad time. It was a short, sub-5 minute segment giving context into everything from Hulk's imprint on the industry to what he was like backstage during Raw's Netflix debut this past January.
Chelsea received significant enough flak for her comments that she moved to clarify them via X shortly afterwards.
There, the WWE full-timer added: "Let me be clear: My stance on racism is unwavering. I do not condone it - period". She also said: "If my response (or tweet) seemed dismissive of real concerns, I sincerely apologise. That was never my intention. I tried to acknowledge a death respectfully, even when the legacy is complicated".
A portion of fans had criticised Green for never bringing up Hogan's racist comments (that surfaced in 2015) during the interview. It's worth noting that a lot of current and former WWE names paid tribute to Hulk, but few of them have been pressured the way Chelsea was. Or, at least, they didn't acknowledge that pressure from critics.
On CBS, Green had opened her statement by mentioning Hogan's "polarising political views".