Once a brother, always a brother, brother.
Bubba the Love Sponge, a former close friend of Hulk Hogan, said he regrets not mending fences before the death of the wrestling legend, who infamously slept with his wife in 2012.
Bubba — real name Todd Clem — took the blame for the former pals’ falling-out despite the fact that Hogan made a sex tape with his wife, Heather Clem, which eventually resulted in the downfall of media company Gawker.
“I’m heartbroken to hear of Terry’s passing,” Bubba said in a statement to TMZ.
Hulk Hogan with former close friend Bubba the Love Sponge in 2009. Getty Images“As everyone knows we had our issues and those issues were mostly my fault. I loved him as a friend while he was with us, and will continue to love his memory as a friend going forward,” the radio host told the outlet.
The shocking mea culpa comes more than a decade after the once-close pals had a dramatic and very public falling-out stemming from a sex tape Hogan made with Bubba’s then-wife Heather — which was secretly filmed by the radio host.
Hogan claimed to “king of all media” Howard Stern in a 2012 interview that he slept with Heather Clem with Bubba’s blessing and encouragement, Vice reported.
That sex tape was then leaked to media outlet Gawker, which published a clip from the video and was promptly sued by Hogan — with funding from billionaire Peter Thiel — for invasion of privacy.
Hogan recently sparked concern with his gaunt appearance and ’90s throwback facial hair. @hulkhogan/InstagramA Florida jury awarded $140 million in total to Hogan in that suit, which caused Gawker to declare bankruptcy just one day after the ruling came down and shutter soon after.
Just days before the Hulkster’s death, Bubba the Love Sponge revealed that the 71-year-old was “on his deathbed.”
Here is the latest on wrestler Hulk Hogan’s death
“If you did some sniffing around, you might find him in a hospital near you and it’s not good,” Bubba said last Wednesday, referring to Hogan.
“I got some pretty reliable information last night that there are phone calls being made to various family members about getting to town to come say your goodbyes,” the Florida-based host said during a broadcast.
Hogan’s manager Jimmy Hart denied the claim that the muscleman was nearing the end of his life — writing on X that the platinum blond power-bomber was “doing great, doing phenomenal!”
