Disgraced wrestling star Hulk Hogan went on Good Morning America this morning to defend himself following the release last month of leaked transcripts of a video in which he repeatedly referred to “fucking niggers” and admitted that he’s a “racist, to a point.” “I’m not a racist,” he told ABC News’ Amy Robach. “I never should have said that. It was wrong.”

Hogan explained to Robach that he referred to his daughter Brooke Hogan’s then-boyfriend as a “nigger” on the tape—which was recorded in 2008—because he grew up regularly calling his friends “nigger.”

“People need to realize that you inherit things from your environment,” he said. “And where I grew up was south Tampa, Port Tampa, and it was a really rough neighborhood, very low income. And all my friends, we greeted each other saying that word.” Hogan was born in Georgia in 1953, and graduated from high school around 1971.

The video’s transcript, which was first published in the National Enquirer and on Radar, reportedly includes the following excerpt:

“I don’t know if Brooke was f*cking the black guy’s son,” Hulk raved, the sources add.

“I mean, I don’t have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f*cking n*ggers. But then when it comes to nice people and sh*t, and whatever.” ...

According to sources, he said: “I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f*ck some n*gger, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n*gger worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!

“I guess we’re all a little racist. Fucking n*gger.”

Despite the taped admission, Hogan told Robach that he’s a changed man and that the recording came during a low point in his life. He was suicidal at the time, he said.

“If everybody at their lowest point was judged on one thing they said and let’s just say in high school, you may have said one bad thing and all of a sudden, your whole career was wiped out today because of something you said 10 or 20 years ago, it’d be a sad world,” he said, referring to remarks that he reportedly made seven years ago. “People get better every day. People get better.”

Apparently, to Hogan, “people getting better” means banning the use of “nigger” altogether, eliminating the “double standard” that prevents him from using the term but permits its use in rap songs. The controversy, Hogan said, could turn into “greatest day of my life” if the word were banished from everything, including all songs and movies. From ABC News:

Even on what he calls the “worst day of his life,” Hogan said: “I thought, ‘You know what? This is going to be the greatest day of my life,’ as crazy as that sounds.”

“Why would it be the greatest day of your life?” Robach asked.

“So this can become the greatest day in my life if people understand there can’t be double standards,” he said. “And you just can’t use the word. Let’s take it out of the dictionary. Let’s not use it in rap songs or movies. I mean, if it’s unacceptable, it’s unacceptable.”

Hogan is currently suing Gawker Media for $100 million for reporting that he engaged in an extramarital sexual act with the ex-wife of his best friend.

Contact the author at taylor@gawker.com.