Hulk Hogan may be out of a job at the WWE due mostly to excerpts of a sex tape going public that Gawker originally leaked, but if things turn out the way the jury intends regarding the lawsuit he filed against Gawker back in 2012, Hogan will be $115 million richer.
The news comes courtesy of a recap and report from CNN, who explained that the jury awarded Hogan $115 million in addition to an unnamed amount of funds for punitive damages. The jury’s final verdict was reached after hearing closing testimonies from both Gawker and Hogan’s lawyers after two weeks of enduring the trial.
Hogan’s lawyer in particular dropped some massive powerbombs of truth on Gawker, explaining how they ruin lives with their content by invading privacy and publishing unethical pieces. Hogan’s lawyer, Kenneth Turkel, explained that Denton ran Gawker as if he were a god pulling the strings of the lives of those beneath him, with CNN quoting his closing argument…
“This guy is up there in New York sitting behind a computer playing god with other people’s lives,” Turkel said of Denton. Turkel also scoffed that [A.J] Daulerio wrote in his 2012 commentary that “the Internet has made it easier for all of us to be shameless voyeurs and deviants.”
The jury was most certainly behind the all-American Hogan in this case, especially given that Hogan’s legal team managed to construct formidable arguments based on recalling the hubris that the media outlet displayed years prior in how they treat the subjects they write about and the content they post. In one particular case Gawker refused to take down the tape and made defenses why publishing sex tapes was newsworthy.
Gawker on Twitter
A judge told us to take down our Hulk Hogan sex tape post. We won’t. https://gaw.kr/sOyoY6Z
Gawker wasn’t having any of the jury’s decision, though. According to the Hollywood Reporter Gawker is already appealing the decision of the jury. Hollywood Reporter writes…
“Gawker has already indicated it will appeal. The focus of the coming proceedings will likely be whether the First Amendment should have precluded claims and whether Gawker got a fair trial.”
Originally Gawker would have to pay $115 million bond in pending fees to appeal the court’s decision, but according to Capital New York, they may only have to front a bill of $50 million… which, they don’t have…
“Fortunately for Gawker, a relatively recent Florida statute may save them from having to pay the full judgment. Florida statute 45.045, enacted in 2012, caps supersedeas bonds at $50 million — as long as Gawker pays a $50 million, it can get an automatic stay on the $115 million judgment.”
According to a report from Business Insider, they were about $5 million short of the $50 million stay in their annual 2014 revenue report, which only topped off at $45 million. Capital New York reported that they only made about $6 million in profit in 2014… and hits have been dropping ever since. 2015’s profit was expected to be even lower.
According to notes from Wrestling-Online, however, Gawker may try to get the jury to look at documents recently unsealed regarding the Hogan case. According to the notes, the unsealed documents, which can be viewed in PDF format here, allegedly reveal that Hogan may have known about the sex tape and other tapes and that – according to Gawker – Hogan was going to use the sex tape as a publicity stunt. They point to the following comments from Hogan who texted Bubba “The Love Sponge” regarding the tape(s)….
“We know there’s more than one tape out there and a one that has several racial slurs were told. I have a PPV and I am not waiting for anymore surprises because we know there is a lot more coming,”
Supposedly, Gawker wants to use the unsealed information from the FBI to build a case that Hogan knew about the sex tape and played coy during the lawsuit. Wrestling-Online explained…
“Apart form the sum, Bubba agreed not to testify against Hogan and Gawker fought hard to have him on the stand but the judge ultimately refused to honor the request. This completely contradicts what Hogan said, having previously testified that he did not [know] that he was being recorded. The whole case was based off the fact that Hogan supposedly did not know that he was being filmed and that’s why he feels his privacy was violated.”
Regardless of Gawker’s intentions, some of their employees and their supporters in corrupt journalism and the spread of misinformation and invasive privacy have run to their aid or posted comments on Twitter in support of the employees and Gawker’s subsidiaries. Unsurprisingly some members of the Game Journo Pros were spotted as well.
Dana Wollman on Twitter
I’m sorry for the Gawker Media employees who had nothing to do with the posting of the Hulk tape but will nonetheless feel the ramifications
Samit Sarkar on Twitter
oh look, there’s all the schadenfreude from Gawker haters, who are missing the point on how damaging this verdict could be to press freedom
Ian Williams on Twitter
Gawker makes big missteps sometimes (that inexcusable Conde Nast story) but I think they and Deadspin in particular have been more good>
The comments of support from journalists who have partaken in dishonest reporting or aligned themselves with outlets who have partaken in dishonest reporting are vastly outweighed by people who have grown tired of the clickbait propaganda that has been passed off as journalism in this day and age.
Even in Ian Williams’ comment he admits the kind of invasive and exploitative content from Gawker – such as outing the Conde Naste CFO, which garnered #GamerGate more allies than enemies – is the sort of thing that can ruin careers, relationships and lives. Even those not associated with #GamerGate wanted to see the Gawker and their subsidiaries burn due to dishonest coverage from places like Kotaku.
Fortunato on Twitter
Reminder: Gawker is legitimately evil and once doxed all registered gun owners in New York City pic.twitter.com/alkcsmoP7x
Jamie Walton on Twitter
Hey @patrickklepek, I’m so sorry that this @Gawker settlement will put you out of your @Kotaku job!!! …Not really, burn you misquoting pos
Jamie Walton, the founder of the Wayne Foundation – an organization to help kids escape the cruelties of sex trafficking – found herself being misrepresented in a Kotaku piece by Patrick Klepek… yes, the same Patrick Klepek involved with the call for blacklisting an industry professional through the Game Journo Pros list because the industry professional said something “gross”.
#GamerGate have been fighting with Gawker and their subsidiaries for more than a year and a half, even managing to cost Gawker anywhere between $1 million and close to $10 million in ad revenue with their Operation Disrespectful nod e-mail campaign.
#GamerGate’s main target has been Kotaku, who covered for their writer Nathan Grayson who was involved in a conflict of interest with an indie dev. Kotaku and others associated in a secret cabal all worked to spin the news on #GamerGate to turn it into a harassment campaign. However, gamers used the opportunity to expose countless examples of corruption that have been chronicled and archived on Deep Freeze.
As you can imagine, the denizens of #GamerGate across social media and their respective containment threads managed to shout out in a chorus of jubilee after the verdict against Gawker was passed.
Reco Anon on Twitter
GamerGate Gawker to pay Hulk Hogan 115 million dollars. Rest in pieces. pic.twitter.com/14H9JBNlv5
Targa on Twitter
GamerGate finally something to come together in, the death of @Gawker best week end drama ever. pic.twitter.com/QZsCzmMVhJ
Person of Wolfness on Twitter
In the end Gawker did indeed burn. Brought down by its own hubris and arrogance. The people rejoiced. #GamerGate pic.twitter.com/JjcAdCAtET
The threads rejoicing the verdict are spread across Kotaku In Action, 8chan, Twitter and forum boards.
Whether or not Gawker will be able to successfully appeal is looking like a longshot to a lot of people, especially with the Daily Mail lawsuit going on as well. So what happens to Gawker’s subsidiaries like Kotaku, Jezebel, io9, Deadspin and Gizmodo? Well, it’s all up in the air, but some developers, gamers and average citizens are saying that they hope they all burn to the ground.
(Main image courtesy of Bocadomano and Kukuruyo)
People are saying on KIA that they need to deposit a shitload of money to even be able to appeal under the Florida law. Is that true?
Yeah… they’ll need to have tons of slush to make that happen, but many doubt it’s going to happen due to the amount they owe.
This is great! For once, I’m glad for the convoluted burguerland justice system.
Yup. No one is going to retain for them at that amount and with OPDisNod having burned through a lot of their profits (which is funny how GG helped in this case) they don’t have the slush on hand to help counter what they owe… even for an appeal.
The upper limit on this is supposedly a 50M$ deposit, which I guess would be ‘slightly’ more doable for them.
According to this image, $115 Million is THE LEAST they stand to lose, as the jury’s also seeking punitive damages.
This is going to get expensive for Gawker.
rejoice is an understatement
people are going wild with the hype
Yessssssss. Best news in a long while. Nice to see assholes get what they deserve, for once in this damned corrupt world.
https://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llmqpsKTi71qcxyg1.jpg
Can’t help but feel the system sounds messed up, though.
If you have money, you can appeal. Otherwise, you lose.
JUST FUCK MY COMPANY UP!
115 MILLION DOLLARS IN PUNITIVE DAMGAGES!
More like “GamerGate forgets that First Amendment applies to everyone, shits self in public”
Seriously, I’m as anti-SJW as anyone, and certainly anti-Ghazi, but my GG-neutrality is taking a pummeling tonight. How the fuck can you retards be this stupid? This decision was a travesty, a slap to the face of the Constitution, and you fuckwits celebrate?
You’re supposed to be the rational ones! But when it comes to this, you’re as “Muh Feels” as Johnny fucking Flynn. Fuck’s sake! Pull yourselves together!
First Amendment? For what? Invasion of privacy? Publishing personal information without consent? Profiting off of exposing data to ruin and defame an individual?
There’s nothing about what Gawker did that needs to be protected. A common rule in most ethics handbooks is to avoid causing harm. How is what they did not causing harm and would you be defending them if it was a private sex tape of you leaked onto the internet and published against your wishes?
You do know that it borderlines on revenge porn and that revenge porn is illegal in many states, right?
If Hogan is to be believed, it was a private sex tape so it has nothing to do with free speech nor are we as the public entitled to view it simply because he is a public figure. What goes on in people’s bedrooms that hasn’t broken any laws is none of our business.
Like Billy said, it’s very similar to revenge porn and I’d imagine sooner rather than later it will legally be recognised as such.
I’m actually shocked Hogan’s lawyer didn’t take that route. It’s an illegal offense in the state of Florida with a pretty general description that fits what Gawker did. According to section 1. b in the bill passed for labeling revenge porn as illegal…
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2015/0538/BillText/er/PDF
I guess they had a strong enough case to nail Gawker from the angle of a lack in “ethics in journalism”.
So it is legally considered revenge porn yet he’s not been charged criminally? Funny how the legal system turns a blind eye on sex crimes when it’s a male victim.
Also funny reading his big bawwww on Gawker, again using the free speech card whilst conveniently forgetting Gawker’s sex crime narrative during The Fappening. Do as I say not as I do says narcissistic Nick.
If “free speech” is about intentionally bullying and slandering innocent people to destroy their lives, then I don’t need it.
The first amendment allows Gawker to write the story. The story is true. There is no legal liability there. Hundreds of outlets wrote about the sex tape.
But Gawker published the actual video. They have no reasonable right to do that. In this case Bollea’s rights to privacy and property would supersede Gawker’s claimed rights to speech.
You’re clearly confusing Free Speech with Privacy.
If Gawker, or anyone else, wants to talk about someone’s else sex life they are free to do so. They have the right to do so. They can talk all the shit they want and should not pay any legal charges for doing it, for it’s not a crime, it’s their right. It’s their free speech and they can say whatever they want.
Getting their hands on private document, that they don’t even own, and releasing it to the public however, it’s not free speech, it’s invasion of privacy. They did not own the rights for the tape, the tape wasn’t made public with Hogan’s consent. It’s dead and simple invasion of privacy.
If Gawker so much wants to spend an entire article to speak about Hulk Hogan’s sex life, they are completely free to do so, as long as they do not commit crimes while doing it.
So please, get off your high horse, buddy.
You, sir, got rekt.
Lol. The brass neck on this one.
Can you explain to me how this was a violation of the Constitution? Legitimately curious.
Just so everyone doesn’t fall for the bullshit claims coming from the media.
Gawker had an absolute first amendment right to write and publish the story. That can reasonably be construed as news.
They had absolutely no right whatsoever to publish in full or part the actual private sex tape. Publicly displaying and shaming Mr. Bolea’s genitals, and going out of their way to maliciously do him harm. And whether or not Bolea knew of the existence of said tape is also irrelevant misdirection. It does not matter. It does not matter if Bollea consented to make a private sex tape. Gawker had no right to publish it.
…and nothing of value is lost
I find it ironic that the same people crying for a ban of ‘problematic speech’ are now “championing” to cause of free speech…
As some said elsewhere, if this was a sex tape of St. Anita they would be foaming at the mouth calling for Gawker to crash and burn.
Hypocrites with integrity worth less than the trash burned at a landfill.
Now lets hope that daily mail succeed too! Massive AoE damage to Gawker’s party!
This ones for you Gawker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DC6v8oPxo
Don’t forget to archive evidence on what “journalists” say about the verdict.
I’m definitely late to the party, so allow me to share this song xD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qku-sPjrCag