Hulk Hogan will speak ahead of Trump at RNC convention

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A Florida man famous for his deep tan, outsized lifestyle and lucrative knack for blending entertainment and reality will speak at the Republican National Convention Thursday night.

Hulk Hogan, the longtime pro wrestler whose real name is Terry Bollea, is on the recently released roster of speakers for the convention’s final night, slated to speak in the run up to former President Donald Trump’s address.

The official RNC program identifies Hulk Hogan as a “professional entertainer and wrestler.” He was also involved in a momentous legal case in the media world: His lawsuit against Gawker Media resulted in a $140 million jury award after the company published a sex tape featuring Bollea in 2015. An ensuing settlement sent the company and its founder into bankruptcy.

After the sex tape emerged, there was abrupt fallout for Hulk Hogan: World Wrestling Entertainment spiked its contract with him over reports that he used racist language in the sex tape.

It may seem unexpected, but Hulk Hogan’s prominent role at this year’s RNC is another sign of the influence of billionaire Peter Thiel — who bankrolled Hogan’s fight against Gawker, and who has more recently been a key patron of Trump’s new vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance.

Hogan is slated to speak sometime between 7:30 and 8 p.m. CT. He’s bookended by two speakers that the RNC program identifies as “everyday Americans.”

Those speakers are Carrie Ruiz, who is the general manager of golf at Trump National Doral in Miami; and Annette Albright of North Carolina, who lost her race last fall for an at-large seat on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

Albright drew notice in that nonpartisan election after she and other candidates were accused of being “Trojan horse Republicans,” as member station WFAE reported.

Trump is himself no stranger to the wrestling ring — or “the squared circle,” as it’s known.

In fact, the WWE has a compilation page of “Donald Trump's greatest WWE moments,” including him forcibly shaving the head of now-former WWE CEO Vince McMahon after the two competed in the “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania in 2007.

And after Trump was elected in 2016, he chose WWE co-founder Linda McMahon to lead the Small Business Association. After a stint in that post, Linda McMahon left in 2019 to join a pro-Trump superPAC called America First Action. McMahon is also set to speak tonight, earlier in the program.

This reporting originally appeared as part of the NPR Network's live coverage of the RNC.