On the campaign trail, Trump turned contempt for the media into a central part of his quest for the Presidency. Although for years Hogan had honed an image of himself as a lovably egomaniacal celebrity, his Tampa lawyers successfully presented him as a rugged Everyman who was victimized by a group of privileged snobs. The courtroom battle took place as Donald Trump’s candidacy for President was accelerating, and it drew on some of the same political forces. The Hogan case had another dimension that was equally ominous for media organizations. The prospect of liability, perhaps existential in nature, for true stories presents a chilling risk for those who rely on the First Amendment. Hulk Hogan conceded that Gawker’s story about him was true, yet he still won a vast judgment and, not incidentally, drove the Web site out of business. But, in an age when Internet publishers can, with a few clicks, distribute revenge porn, medical records, and sex tapes-all of it truthful and accurate-courts are having second thoughts about guaranteeing First Amendment protection. In these cases, the Court came close to saying, but never quite said, that publication of the truth was always protected by the First Amendment.
Gawker sued series#
Since the nineteen-sixties, a series of Supreme Court precedents, most of them involving newspapers, have made libel cases very difficult to win, in part because plaintiffs bear the burden of proving that the stories about them are false. The verdict heralds a new era, in which judges and jurors see the ribald world of the Internet, rather than the staid realm of newspapers, as the dominant form of journalism. (Hogan, who is now sixty-three, prefers to characterize wrestling as “sports entertainment,” because promoters stage matches in advance.) Even after the jury’s verdict-a gargantuan award of a hundred and forty million dollars, in Hogan’s favor-few saw the case as anything more than a bizarre outlier, of little relevance to anyone except its protagonists.īut the lawsuit seems destined to have an enduring afterlife, and not just because of the revelation that it had been secretly financed by a tech billionaire with a vendetta against Gawker.
Gawker sued pro#
Petersburg in March, laid out a sordid tale of betrayal and exposure, told mostly by Hogan, whose lavishly mustachioed visage remains one of the prominent faces of the sport of pro wrestling.
Gawker sued professional#
After all, the case centered on the leak of a surreptitiously videotaped sexual encounter between Hogan, the professional wrestler, and the wife of his erstwhile best friend, who is named Bubba the Love Sponge. The latest suit also accuses a talent agent, two disc jockeys, a radio company and a lawyer of conspiring to send news media outlets the sex tape and causing Hogan emotional distress and economic harm.When Hulk Hogan faced off in court against the Web site Gawker, earlier this year, it was easy to become distracted by the rococo tawdriness of the spectacle. Gawker denies that it leaked the transcript. Once the Enquirer published the story, WWE severed its longtime ties with the famous wrestler. In the transcript, Hogan, who is white, makes several racist statements about his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, who is black. Gawker did not immediately respond to the decision.Įarlier this month, Hogan sued Gawker again, saying the website leaked sealed court documents containing a transcript that quoted him making racist remarks. Hogan lawyer David Houston released a statement saying that the judge’s decision reflects that “Gawker has failed and continues to fail in recognizing their obligation to Bollea for their reprehensible behavior and method of doing what they call journalism”.
Gawker sued plus#
In March, a Pinellas County jury awarded Hogan $115m in compensatory damages plus an added $25m in punitive damages.
Gawker sued trial#
The three-week trial was a lurid inside look at the business of celebrity gossip and a debate over newsworthiness versus celebrity privacy. During the Gawker trial, Hogan mournfully described how Clem betrayed his trust. Hogan sued Gawker after it posted a 2007 video of him having sex with Heather Clem, wife of his then-best friend Bubba The Love Sponge Clem, a local Tampa DJ who made the video.
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