'He didn't mean it': Brooke Hogan defends her dad Hulk Hogan after racist comments got him fired from WWE
Hulk Hogan may have been dumped from WWE's upcoming tour of Australia, but he's still a champ in the eyes of his daughter Brooke.
The 27-year-old singer defended her disgraced father during a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight while promoting her new EP, I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend.
Brooke stated that Hulk is 'not racist' and 'didn't mean it' when he was heard using the N-word and other offensive terms during a tirade in a 2008 audio tape that emerged in late July.
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Champion: Brooke Hogan defended her disgraced dad Hulk Hogan after his racist comments got him fired from WWE's Australia tour
The 61-year-old professional wrestler was reportedly referring to Brooke and an African-American man she was seeing at the time.
But Brooke herself is adamantly standing by her dad in the scandal's aftermath, insisting that Hulk was at 'the lowest point in his life' when he was caught on tape.
'He's my dad, I love him,' Brooke told ET. 'And the reason I'm standing by his side on this whole thing is because I know him, and it's so easy for people to just - they need something to jump down people's backs about. He's an easy target.
'He's not racist': The 27-year-old singer said that she feels bad for her dad, 61, and that 'he didn't mean it'
'Ill-fitting words': Brooke described her dad's behavior this way: 'It's just when you're mad and you're at the lowest point in your life... you just choose ill-fitting words for that situation just to air your shorts out'
'I understand when people are writing me mean tweets and saying your dad's this and [that]... [but] I wish I could talk to them and just say, "Have you ever been really mad at somebody and just said the worst about them?"... It's not that my dad thinks that, and that's not how we were raised.'
Brooke continued: 'He's not racist. It's just when you're mad and you're at the lowest point in your life... you just choose ill-fitting words for that situation just to air your shorts out.'
'I feel bad for my dad, but I also feel bad for the African-American fans and stuff because they don’t know that he didn't mean it,' she said.
Replaced: Hulk was scheduled to serve as special guest General Manager for the Australia tour, which begins on Thursday, but he was fired from the company and replaced by Shawn Michaels
Hulk told ET in a statement: 'It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it...
'I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs. It is not who I am. I continue to work every day to improve as a person, and this matter is an important learning experience for me in that regard.'
Hulk, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was scheduled to serve as special guest General Manager for the Australia tour, which begins on Thursday, but he was fired from the company.
Responding to a disappointed fan, Hogan tweeted: 'I'm so sorry Australia I will miss u and really wanted to be there 4 u as the WWE general manager, I will be back soon, only love HH'
Moving on: Brooke (pictured on June 12) has forgiven her father for his racist tirade and is looking forward to the September 4 release of her new five-song EP I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend
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