This is fitness influencer Joey Swoll. He is the self-proclaimed “CEO of Gym Positivity,” with millions of followers on TikTok, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
He describes himself as “somebody that doesn’t like bullies in the gym or on social media. That tries to teach people to treat others the way you want to be treated and hopefully makes the world a little better of a place.”
On July 25, Joey posted a now-deleted tribute to wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, 71, who died on July 24, 2025. Joey shared an old video of himself dressed as the wrestler, working out in the gym with the caption “RIP to a legend and one of my inspirations to start working out.”
Then, Joey received backlash for supporting Hogan, a wrestler whose WWE contract was terminated in 2015 over his use of racial slurs. In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million against Gawker Media, which posted a sex tape of him. The case led to the discovery that he used racial slurs in 2007 to describe his daughter, Brooke Hogan’s ex-boyfriend.
According to the transcript, Hogan even said, “I am racist, to a point, f—ing n—s.”
Despite Hogan’s contributions to wrestling entertainment, this controversy, among others, regarding his personal life and his relationship with the wrestling organization, tainted his legacy. And unfortunately for the fitness influencer, Joey learned the hard way about what it means to support Hulk Hogan in 2025.
In response to the backlash he received for the tribute, Joey responded in a livestream, defending his support of Hogan. “I can post Hulk Hogan if I want to. Just because somebody makes a mistake in their life, doesn’t mean that they haven’t done good things,” he said. “I don’t know what he did. He said something 20 years ago and apologized for it.”
“If you’re going to attack me, you better go after the colored athletes and the people that are black and minority that went and posted him as well. Okay. The man was nice to me, and he made a mistake. I’m not God. People make mistakes in life. If you got a problem with that, look at yourself.”
When Joey used the term “colored athletes,” it went viral, and everything really hit the fan. The influencer found himself in the middle of even more backlash, which led to a follow-up apology.
On July 28, he shared an apology video on social media. “Instead of listening and understanding like I should have, I became defensive and said that I was posting to celebrate the wrestling icon, the person that so many of us looked up to as kids… I didn’t know to the extent of all the horrible things that he had done,” Joey said.
After apologizing for the Hulk Hogan video and his TikTok Live, he apologized using the wrong terms to address people of color. “I used the word colored instead of saying person of color, which is a very outdated, very offensive term,” he added. “A few moments later, somebody educated me and told me that it wasn’t okay to use that. I immediately apologized.”
As the backlash and criticism continued, Joey posted another series of explanations on social media that, in my opinion, only made the matter worse. On July 29, he shared an X post explaining he was “done” with the back and forth. “All the good I’ve done, all the people I’ve helped, all for nothing. I truly hope all the people I’ve inspired do great things in their life and pay it forward to help others and carry on my message. But no matter how much good you do, people just wait for a reason to hate you and tear you down. You either die a hero, or live long enough to be the villain. Thank you for your support. I am done,” he wrote.
Following his apology, some fans were upset with Joey, claiming he didn’t do anything wrong, and called him out for apologizing:
In response to those criticisms, Joey posted a follow-up X post defending his decision to “take a break” from social media. “A lot of people upset with me calling me weak and a quitter or worse… So yea, maybe I am done with social media or need to take a break and get my head right. But I will say there so many incredible people being supportive and telling me how much I’ve helped them, to be stronger, and keep fighting. Thank you to everyone even those giving me a kick in the ass telling me to stop being weak and a quitter. You need to hear it once in awhile. I just need to breathe.”
There have been a lot of mixed reactions to Joey’s apologies, which, in my opinion, highlight the worst parts of the internet echo chambers.
One person wrote, “You were reactive and on top of your incredibly tone-deaf hulk hogan post, doubled down and referred to black people as ‘colored’ on a live stream. You are not a victim, and this is not accountability, which is ironic given you built your platform demanding it from others.”
“Respectfully, you used language like ‘coloured’, ‘the blacks’ & then excused racism as ‘just a mistake 20 years ago’. I find it hard to believe that you had no idea that Hulk Hogan (who was your idol) had said racist things. Go learn from your mistakes, don’t run away. Be better,” another person wrote.
But for every person who attempted to hold Joey accountable for his mistakes, three more doubled down on why he or Hulk Hogan did nothing wrong.
“As soft as Charmin. This is some woe as me bullshit. You got called out like you call out all of the losers in your videos and now you’re acting like a whiny little teenager. Sack up, Swoll. Ya need to do better,” one fan wrote.
Another fan wrote, “You trashed your idol, someone who was important to a huge portion of this country right after he died. Why? Some people will never forgive you complained. Don’t act like we’re the bad guys. You did this.”
After reading through all these explanations, apologies, and backlash, I want to know what you think about the situation. Sound off in the comments.
