Hogan Family’s Don’ts

26Mar08

Hulk Hogan’s family just can’t seem to catch a break this year.  The family began to fall from grace after reports of an affair followed by the filing of a divorce.  Now, to add salt to an already deep wound, they are being sued for negligence after their son, Nick Bollea, was the driver in a terrible car accident which resulted in one of the passengers, John Graziano, being seriously injured-unlike Bollea, Graziano was not wearing a seatbelt.  As a result, he is not completely brain dead but is only responsive to some light and heat.  He is in a vegetative-type state.

Reports say that Bollea had alcohol in his system and allegedly he blew a 0.055 blood alcohol content.  That is over the legal limit, 0.02, for people under the age of 21. To make matters even worse, some reports say that Hulk Hogan purchased the alcohol for Bollea, 17.  After drinking with friends, Bollea went street racing and now he, his father, his mother and the person he was racing with are being sued by the Graziano Family for damages, including compensation for outrageous medical bills of over $1 million so far.  The Graziano Family said that their son will need serious medical care for the rest of his life.

Famous celebrity gossip columnist Perez Hilton wrote about this story and received 64 comments in response.  The majority of people felt that the Hogan Family should be held responsible and they had very little, if any sympathy for them.  On the other hand, there were a select few individuals who felt that Graziano should be held accountable for making the choice to ride with Bollea while street racing, and more importantly opting not to wear a seatbelt, which could have drastically decreased the severity of his injuries sustained during the crash. 

This is a sad and unfortunate story that has destroyed two families, all in the blink of an eye.  All families involved are dealing with some rough times and deserve our sympathy.  From a PR perspective it’s not good that the Hogan’s keep finding themselves in the headlines for almost exclusively negative stories, but at least they are owning up to their actions and answering questions.  They are not using the dreaded “no comment” quote, and they deserve credit for that.   

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