Dwayne Johnson on Hulk Hogan's racist rant: "We've all talked trash"

Dwayne Johnson says he was disappointed when he heard about a tape of Hulk Hogan using racial slurs.

Johnson, also a former pro wrestler, told a TV critics' meeting Thursday that the remarks didn't match his personal history with Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea.

"I've known Terry for a lot of years, and my dad helped train him in Florida in the '70s when he was breaking into the business. I come from a very long line of lineage of professional wrestlers. I had not known the man to be racist," said Johnson, who was at the meeting to talk about his HBO series "Ballers."

He acknowledged: "We've all talked trash, you know, especially in private. He said what he said, and he's paying the price."

The 61-year-old Hogan has suffered backlash despite apologizing in a statement for using "offensive language."

"It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it," Hogan said, calling his departure from a WWE a resignation.

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. severed ties with him this month. He won six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Sylvester Stallone.

Also Thursday, a judge set a March 2016 trial date for a lawsuit brought by Hogan against Gawker Media for releasing a sex tape that contained the comments.