
In any appeal, Gawker is expected to have to post a bond in the meantime. Daulerio sits down at the computer with his friends, joking, laughing, mocking, recklessly consuming this content, and with a click uploads this thing up on the Internet and turns this man’s life upside down,” Bollea’s lawyer told the jury. That videotape was made in 2006 but made public by Gawker in 2012. Bollea said on the stand that he was “completely humilated” by the tape. While clearly he was being sarcastic, it underscored the attitude of the Gawker the head of the website’s anything goes editorial policy. It probably didn’t help that, when asked in court last week about the news value of celebrity sex videos, former Gawker editor Daulerio said he thought the video was “amusing.” When Bollea’s lawyer played his video deposition in court where he asked if Daulerio could imagine any time that a celebrity sex tape would not be considered newsworthy, the former editor said, “If they were a child.” When pressed about what age, Daulerio said, “Four.” However, that is before the jury today granted damages of over $100M. When interviewed by The New York Times about the then-pending lawsuit a year ago, Denton said he wasn’t concerned that it would have much impact on his business. While there is likely to be an appeal, a judgment this high from the Florida jury could be devastating for Gawker, which was started over a decade ago by Denton. Bollea, the man, they said, was personally harmed by the publication of the video. Bollea’s attorneys argued that not only did their client not know the tape was being recorded, but when he spoke about his sex life later on a radio show, he did so in character as Hulk Hogan. While Gawker cried First Amendment protection, Bollea’s attorney cried foul and said it was a clear invasion of privacy. So far, he has won $60 million for emotional stress and $55 million in economic damages. Bollea sued Nick Denton’s Gawker Media and the former editor of, Albert J. At issue was a one minute and 41 second video which Gawker posted that showed the famed wrestler having sex with Heather Clem, the wife of his best friend. PREVIOUS, FRIDAY PM: Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, has landed a $115M judgment against online site Gawker for invasion of privacy in a case that is likely to have repercussions of how celebrity news is covered in the future. The lawsuit stemmed from the publication of a sex tape. Gawker, Denton and Daulerio are expected to appeal. The Gawker lawsuit refers to a high-profile legal case involving the media company Gawker Media.

The total damages awarded Bollea is now $140M. Gawker’s financials also showed, among other things, that it earned $6.5M in operating income in 2014 on revenues of $44.3M. But Bubba has, in the past, given a conflicting statement on whether Hogan knew he was being filmed.Gawker Suspends Operations Amid Bustle Digital Group Layoffsīerry told jurors today that the $115M amount “could be debilitating for Gawker Media.” The company released financials to the court earlier that showed Gawker Media was worth $83M, and that Denton was worth anywhere between $117M-$121M because of his interest in the company, but personally is worth an estimated $3.6M. Hogan's legal team has stated that Bubba has only testified once under oath, when he “confirmed that Terry Bollea had no knowledge of being filmed or anything to do with it,” according to The New York Times. “Given key evidence and the most important witness were both improperly withheld from this jury, we all knew the appeals court will need to resolve the case,” Denton wrote in a statement.īubba had previously settled with Hogan for $5,000 for his part in the incident and used his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying in the Gawker trial, the Tampa Bay Times reported. But Bubba was not given the chance to testify at trial, something Gawker pointed to in a statement regarding an appeal. The tape in question was recorded in 2006, and shows Hogan having sex with the wife of his former best friend, shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge, who allegedly filmed the encounter. Hogan has said the tape was made without his knowledge or consent. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
