Brooke and Nick Hogan: Paragons of Virtue?

Brooke Hogan, a.k.a. Brooke Bollea, is busy ranting about her brother Nick Bollea and his injured friend, John Graziano.

According to a St. Pete Times blog:

"I know most of the public thinks my brother is some rich little selfish kid, but NO ONE knows the real story and I'm really pissed that the truth didn't come out from either side," she wrote. "A LOT of lies were told in that trial. Believe me. And it wasn't from us. John (Graziano) was NEVER home. He was at our house. ALL THE TIME."

She also ripped on how you idiots who watch Hogan Knows Best and for some reason give a damn about them had better get up off it, because reality TV is anything but. Who knew?

"And by the way, before you judge anybody, make sure you really know them. I promise you if you were to meet my brother he would give you the shirt off his back. He's not "NICK HOGAN." AND hes not the person he plays on tv. People are so gullible now a days…"
Well gee, I wonder why the public would think that Nick was a rich, selfish kid? Brooke should take comfort that Nick is not alone in this: We see her as one, too.

I was at the candlelight vigil. I wrote about how the Hogans were trying to remake Nick's image. (I think it's time for them to put a little effort in Brooke's direction, also). I saw the trial.

Here's the real scoop: Nick IS a rich, selfish kid. And from the moment he wrapped his car around a tree, his family's been in a rush to make him seem to be something that he is not.

The Hogans lavished money on the gullible Grazianos. They held tearful press conferences, they conned John Graziano's mom into making idiotic statements in which she said that the Hogans were taking good care of the Grazianos and treated John like another son. All these things were added to the Hogans' arsenal, as anyone could see that lawsuits and trials were coming.

The Hogans also started up some sort of charitable fund in which Nick made an attempt to raise money for John's ongoing care. When this was brought up in court before the judge, the Graziano attorney (George Tragos) stated that this was the first that any of them had heard about it. Gosh, what a surprise. And here we thought the Grazianos and Hogans were so tight-knit, right?

The judge who presided over Nick Hogan's case has a dire reputation of being no one to mess with. There are local attorneys who will ask you who your judge is, and when you say "It's Judge Federico," they decline your case. He lived up to his reputation on the day he sentenced Nick.

Nick was sentenced according to guidelines. Some could argue that the judge had been too lenient, others that he was too harsh. In my opinion, the sentence was fair, and Nick was lucky. Too bad that John Graziano, who has now had part of his frontal lobe removed and remains in an unresponsive state, was equally unlucky.

Even if, as Brooke alleges, John was constantly at the Hogans' house, does that give them free license to use him as a meat puppet? Perhaps he was a groupie, perhaps he was a genuine friend. But whatever John's motivations were, they did not give Nick Hogan the right to repeatedly drive recklessly and make rash decisions (while encouraged by his family members to do so).

The Hogan parents raised both of their children badly. This was shown repeatedly in court, and it's evidenced in their actions.

Brooke's ridiculous, trite little chidings cannot hide the truth. The truth is plain to everyone. Everyone, that is, except for poor John Graziano, who will spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state while the Hogans go on to enjoy their freedom, their fame, and their lives.

Below is what John Graziano looks like today, and will look like for the rest of his life: