Every now and then, my high school officials would allow us to shed our restrictive uniforms to allow for a little self-expression. For a starving student body eager to ditch ties, skirts and (sometimes) blazers in favor of bow ties in the early 2000s, “dress-down days” became manna.

On one of those days during my junior year, my ethics teacher dropped a gem that became permanently lodged in my brain. He was a little annoyed that a sophomore girl was rocking playboy Bunny T-shirt. He wasn’t so much against Hugh Hefner’s company as he was objecting to a 15-year-old promoting that company. For him, wearing the T-shirt was an affirmation, even if she disagreed with the magazine or had no posing plans of her own. So she took the opportunity to throw on this harmless piece of clothing Playboy, and his sometimes sordid history, tacit approval.

As a teenage know-it-all, I understood this, but it didn’t really dawn on me until I became an adult know-it-all. That’s why it always feels like a kick in the gut when WWE publicly parades Hulk Hogan on his seemingly endless senior farewell tours. He doesn’t just show up for their giant Netflix Monday Night Rawbut it has been officially announced that he will put his trademark on it Raw‘s wrestling mat. So yeah, he’s permanently part of WWE’s weekly programming until someone who writes very large checks says otherwise.

Given WWE’s history with this cat, it’s hard to imagine anything “different” would ever happen.

For a company that claims it’s for “everyone” and is painfully apolitical, its actions with the Hulkster tell a very different story. And it’s sad too.

For what felt like a very short time, Hogan was persona non grata in the WWE. The man admitted on the tape that he was racist, so it felt like he should stop selling Hulk Rules t-shirts the least they could do it. Three years later, the racism that had spread through the Pythons for God knows how many years seemed to have died down just enough for the WWE to welcome him home with open arms and crumpled checkbooks. They excused his poor explanations and apparently an even poorer apology that fell on at least a few deaf ears in the locker room.

Surprisingly, Titus O’Neil wasn’t sold on the idea that when you say something bad, you should first make sure that no one absorbs it. I don’t think I’m even leaning on the skinny side when I say that Hogan wouldn’t have a two-second lead if he did that in front of a majority-black locker room WWE Speedmuch less Monday Night Raw.

It’s not surprising that WWE was back with a man who made them the giant they are today, but it’s disappointing that the company that pays tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comes out, tells his fans the man who is just sorry he got caught and truly deserves the patience, forgiveness and tolerance that Dr. King died. Of all the things Martin Luther King didn’t die for, supporting the same cat on his latest IPA project is at the top of that list.

And then there is politics. Look, I understand that the pendulum swings both ways in this case. The company, which swears on a stack of Bibles that it is completely apolitical, has ties to Hulk Hogan And Jesse Ventura. How the hell is there a difference when the former supports a man whose entire political ethos is antithetical to everything Hogan supposedly stood for. As my husband Sean aptly concluded, “Fight for every man’s rights” was a mantra, not just lyrics to a superhero theme song. He is overtly political in a way that makes traditionally non-political companies nervous. I don’t know WWE’s code of conduct for its wrestlers (nor apparently do I), but the wise bank says that if any current wrestler were to make his political leanings so clear, that person would have their heads turned, even if only for a short time .

Photo by Sacha Lecca/Rolling Stone via Getty Images

But I think campaigning has a different ring to it when the McMahon Matriarch and the McMahon Patriarch have too many connections to count with the once and future President of the United States. This, along with other institutional and societal biases, makes tacit approval feel like direct endorsement.

And for what? Hogan’s heyday was 40 years ago. WWE’s slavish devotion comes from an era that is ancient history to its younger fans, while cats my age are more likely to feel nostalgia for Steve Austin or The Rock. Even the man’s hometown had no sympathy for him, and yet WWE persists in Gretchen Weiners trying to enforce “Fetch” for what I can only assume are basketball reasons.

From the outside, it looks like Hulk will always rule because there are enough people in Stamford, CT. who either agree with him or don’t care enough to raise more than an eyebrow or two. I’m not sure which is worse. What I do know is that my ethics teacher would say that a company that uses a person with so much baggage in its advertising and events while making him a literal foundation of its weekly program is not getting the benefit of the doubt if it it’s about what they say they represent.

This isn’t WWE wearing one playboy T-shirt so much that they create their own wing playboy Villa, but act like they don’t even know the address.