A Florida jury awarded former WWE Wrestling Star Hulk Hogan $115 million in his suit against Gawker.
They probably regret this now.
A judge told us to take down our Hulk Hogan sex tape post. We won't. http://t.co/8NEX3gV04e
— Gawker (@Gawker) April 25, 2013
The outcome comes after two weeks of testimony in a first-of-its-kind case where discussions of newsworthiness and decency dominated.
Weighing free speech against privacy, a Florida jury has decided to uphold the sanctity of the latter by turning in a $115 million verdict against Gawker over its 2012 posting of a Hulk Hogan sex tape.
Hogan brought the case three years ago after Gawker, a 13-year-old digital news site founded by Nick Denton, an entrepreneur with an allergy to celebrity privacy, published a video the wrestler claimed was secretly recorded. The sex tape was sensational, showing Hogan — whose real name is Terry Bollea — engaged in sexual intercourse with Heather Cole, the then-wife of his best friend, Tampa-area radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge (real name: Todd Alan Clem). Gawker’s posting of the Hogan sex tape was accompanied by an essay from then–editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio about celebrity sex and a vivid play-by-play of the encounter between Hogan and Cole.
In an era when digital networks have reshaped culture, raising tough questions about sharing and prying in society, the jury got to hear two weeks of testimony in a first-of-its-kind sex tape case where discussions of newsworthiness and decency dominated.
Welcome the new overlords…
Congratulations @HulkHogan on owning your own media company! pic.twitter.com/ZvMVZZl01W
— Jason Rosenbaum (@jrosenbaum) March 18, 2016
Via Twitchy:
Whatcha gonna do, @Gawker, when the largest lawsuit in the world, runs wild on you, brother! pic.twitter.com/e946y6xyoX
— Peter Stringer (@peterstringer) March 18, 2016
