They're human beings, and every human being can be a douchebag in the right circumstances. I learned long ago not to expect your childhood heroes to be perfect. I mean, I was a Hulk Hogan fan growing up, and we've all seen how that's gone.
I always hated Hogan as a kid, because he was forced down our throats, and I do think I found out fairly early on about his creative control and refusing to job and put people over. I think by Wrestlemania 1993 I was already onto the fact that the whole main event was done to put the belt back onto Hogan without them having to book yet another face vs face main event for the title at Wrestlemania like the Hogan vs Warrior match just a few years earlier. And I think I had already caught onto it being BS that he wouldn't job to Bret Hart, but dropped the belt back to Yokozuna instead (I think that's what happened?) on his way out. Later on we would find out that Bret Hart vs Hogan was the main event for either Summerslam or King of the Ring 93 (I forget which one) and they even shot pictures and promos for it featuring Hogan and Bret having a tug of war with the belt for the event poster. But Hogan would block it, but denied to Bret it was his doing and blamed it on Vince. Despite Bret claiming Vince pitched the idea to him, but had to run it by Terry first.
So yeah, I was over Hogan before everyone else.
But I know you were probably talking more in regards to him outside of wrestling, like the racist phone calls and things that started surfacing only in the last 10-15 years. And disgusting comments he made about the victim his son paralyzed in the car crash some years back.
I found this perfect timing, as my friend and I were just discussing why Hogan was so eager to call up Eric Bischoff and tell him he wanted to drop the belt to Goldberg, who was a rookie and had only been in the business for not even an entire year. Yet he was always so difficult in dropping the belt to guys like Sting without one of the biggest bullshit finishes ever and wouldn't even drop the belt to Bret Hart at all.
So this was the perfect outlet to let out some of my disdain for Hogan. I have to catch up on the rest of this thread and conversation.