Friday, per Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order, will be “Hulk Hogan Day in Florida” and flags will fly at half staff to honor pro wrestler and Florida resident Hulk Hogan, who died last week from a heart attack at his home in Clearwater Beach.
The wrestler spent much of his life in Florida and appeared with DeSantis recently and at the Republican National Convention last year in Milwaukee, endorsing Donald Trump.
Hogan, born Terry Bollea, started wrestling in 1977 and eventually became a two-time WWE hall of famer. He was banned from WWE from 2015-2018 after it was discovered that he used racial slurs.
The 71-year-old owned Hogan’s Hangout in Clearwater Beach, among other ventures such as Real American Beer.
DeSantis ordered U.S. and state flags to fly at half-staff Friday in Tallahassee and Pinellas County.
“We were with him just a couple months ago, my kids got to meet him and everything. So I was really sad to see that, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and people throughout this region of Florida, because I know so many people cared about him,” DeSantis said last week at a news conference in Bradenton.
Hogan received $115 million from a 2013 lawsuit in which he sued Gawker Media after the outlet published parts of a sex tape of Hogan and Heather Clem, former wife of Bubba the Love Sponge, a Florida radio personality.
The damages bankrupted Gawker. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel financed the litigation on Hogan’s behalf. Earlier, a Gawker-affiliated website had outed Thiel as gay.
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