News

Surprising Reason Hulk Hogan Refused To Reconcile With Ex-Best Friend Revealed

By Sridhar Krishnan • Published Jul 30, 2025 14:30 EDT

Hulk Hogan refused to reconcile with his former friend after a falling out.

Hogan and Bubba the Love Sponge, whose real name is Todd Alan Clem, were friends for a long time and shared a close relationship.

The Hulkster even served as the best man at Bubba’s wedding to Heather Clem.

Their friendship was severed in 2012 after the release of a 2007 sex tape by Gawker Media involving Hogan. The wrestling legend was unaware that he was being recorded.

This would result in Hulk Hogan suing Gawker, Bubba, and Heather for invasion of privacy.

Bubba and Heather apologized for their roles in the controversy. Meanwhile, Hogan was awarded $140 million in damages, with a Florida court ordering Gawker to pay the sum.

Hogan settled for $31 million after Gawker declared bankruptcy.

Hogan’s relationship with Bubba was never the same.

Hulk Hogan Refused To Reconcile With Bubba The Love Sponge

Bubba the Love Sponge recently discussed his severed ties with Hulk Hogan during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored.

Piers asked Bubba whether he ever got the chance to make up with the wrestling legend.

No, I never really did. I attempted a couple times to try to reach out to him, but, you know, I don’t think he was interested.
I think that he thought that if we were to be friendly in his latter years that people would think that the sex tape was a work, and that him and I were in on it and that truly wasn’t how it went down.
He was an innocent, you know, party to this and that’s why he was awarded the amount of money that he got from Gawker because it was an invasion of privacy situation. So, no, I didn’t get an opportunity to reconcile with him like I wish I could. [7:21 onwards]