Real American Beer
WWE legend Hulk Hogan launched his own beer company, Real American Beer, last month with events at the Seminole Hard Rock in South Florida and at MacDill AFB in Tampa Bay. Being billed as a “premium American-made light lager,” Real American Beer is a natural fit for Hulk Hogan who played ‘Thunderlips’ in Rocky III and starred in the Thunder in Paradise franchise as a former Navy SEAL.
However, it didn’t take long after Hulk Hogan‘s Real American Beer launched before the first PR crisis after an influencer accused the company of racial discrimination. Hulk Hogan’s new beer company quickly released a statement following the accusations below, their statement reads:
“We are deeply troubled by the false rumor circulating on social media that a brand ambassador hired by a third-party marketing agency was terminated by Hulk Hogan for racial reasons. Real American Beer simply terminated its short-term relationship with the third-party marketing agency. Hulk Hogan was not involved in that decision, and race was not a factor. We are in communication with the agency in an attempt to clear the misunderstanding and incorrect information, and believe that this false statement will be withdrawn.”
What Happened With Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer Company?
So, as you might’ve surmised from the statement, the company was accused of racial discrimination. This happened when influencer ‘Essence Jenai’ took to TikTok over the weekend alleging that she was fired because she was black.
Jenai posted two TikToks. The first TikTok she posted was an image gallery showing Hulk Hogan and other brand ambassadors promoting the beer though it is entirely unclear when the images were taken, all we know from her post is that the brand shared those images recently. Her caption reads “@Hulk Hogan thanks for making it clear that you don’t work with BLACK brand ambassadors.”
In the second post, a video, she added the text “POV: Hulk Hogan paid you to be a brand ambassador and canceled your contract the next day because he realized you were a BLACK brand ambassador.”
@essencejenai @Hulk Hogan thanks for making it clear that you don’t work with BLACK brand ambassadors. #fypage #hulkhogan #brandambassador
That video shows Essence Jenai posing with Hulk Hogan and Real American Beer products and it was those two videos which prompted the company to release the statement.
The company claims they had nothing to do with her firing and instead they severed relationships with the agency and not the influencer. To her point about canceling all events, that one is tricky because 999 out of 1,000 times, promotional materials are photographed way in advance of when they are posted. And even if those images she shared were taken the day they were posted that could have been an unofficial event, they could be friends/family helping promote his new beer company, and most importantly there’s no evidence of racial discrimination simply because another event took place.
All of that taken into consideration, it didn’t stop Essence Jenai’s videos from going viral on TikTok with her video racking up 2 million views and over 3,100 comments, the vast majority of which are disparaging toward Hulk Hogan. After those videos went viral the company promptly released the statement above but the posts are still up on her TikTok page and the allegations have been made.
The statement from Real American Beer saying they want to “clear the misunderstanding and incorrect information” and are working to ensure “this false statement will be withdrawn” is interesting because as a new company they certainly have an interest in protecting their brand and if these allegations are unfounded it would seem likely this isn’t the last of this back-and-forth between the brand and this influencer whose posts are still up.
Hulk Hogan is no stranger to controversy, but having worked on the agency side some over the years and knowing how things work between brands and agencies and how little communication there often is, the statement from Real American Beer company about severing ties with the agency makes the most sense to me here but it will be interesting see what, if anything, is learned about this in the coming days.