By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE has severed ties with Hulk Hogan. WWE said in a statement Friday morning: "WWE terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (a/k/a Hulk Hogan)." An attorney for Hulk Hogan claimed to TMZ that Hogan resigned late Thursday night.

The end of the relationship follows information spreading late Thursday about Hogan using the n-word and other derogatory, racially-driven remarks on the tape containing sexual acts involving Hogan and Heather Clem, the ex-wife of radio host Bubba the Love Sponge, that was recorded in 2006.

In Friday's statement, WWE did not specifically say why they severed ties with Hogan, but the company alluded to the racial aspect: "WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide."

The racially-driven rant was reported in October 2012 after a collection of tapes were viewed by an insider with knowledge of the contents. It appears the rant came up again in a court hearing on July 2 when the FBI's investigation created awareness that there were more audio tapes.

Now three weeks later, it appears audio of Hogan's rants was set to go public, prompting WWE to completely disassociate from Hogan.

WWE told TMZ on Friday that they received a transcript of comments made on the tape and they believe the full text will come out during Hogan's court trial with Gawker later this year. After investigating the transcript, WWE decided to sever ties with Hogan.

TMZ reports that the tape includes Hogan using the n-word to describe his daughter, Brooke Hogan, dating an African-American. There is another report that Hogan allegedly used racially-driven language to describe "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson.

Timeline of Events

- 2006: Hogan and Heather engaged in sexual acts at Bubba's home while Hogan was still married to Linda Bollea. Hogan has said in interviews that he did not know he was being filmed.

Bubba has said that he burned a DVD of Hogan and Heather's acts using security footage and kept the DVD at a desk at his home.

- October 2007: Hogan and Linda went through their public divorce.

- October 2012: Gawker published a roughly 90-second version of a 30-minute video tape featuring Hogan and Heather they say was anonymously mailed to their offices. Included was a play-by-play description of the full video.

Bubba has suggested in testimony that he did not release the tape. From BuzzFeed.com: "Bubba panicked after TMZ’s report and went to check his desk drawer for the disk labeled 'Hogan.' It was missing."

- Late 2012: Hogan made various media appearances trying to downplay the tape, saying he was "messed up" at the time because his marriage to Linda was failing and he was at a low point in his life.

"Between the divorce from Linda and the time I met [current wife] Jennifer, I had about four-and-a-half months that I really went crazy," Hogan told TMZ at the time. “I was really out of my mind for a while," he added.

- Late 2012: Hogan filed the $100 million lawsuit against Gawker alleging invasion of privacy. Hogan said he was unaware that he was being filmed at the time of the sexual acts with Heather.

- 2013 until now: Hogan's legal battle against Gawker has continued for two years. A trial is scheduled for October. The recent delay was due to the FBI's involvement in producing the full contents of the tapes and attempting to find out who released the tape.

- February 2014: While the legal proceeding was ongoing, WWE re-signed Hogan to a contract and named him the host of WrestleMania 30. Hogan has fulfilled various roles since returning to WWE, including most-recently being one of the judges on Tough Enough.

- July 2015: WWE severed ties with Hogan in advance of Hogan's racially-driven tirade going public through the court battle with Gawker.

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