As Radar reported, Hogan sued the media company for publishing clips from the sex tape, which showed him having intimate relations with Heather Clem, the wife of his friend Bubba the Love Sponge, in 2006.
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Hogan started out his testimony referencing a phone conversation he had with Bubba about his wife wanting to have sex with Hogan, which he thought was a joke. Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston, said their side of the case should be decided by Thursday and stated, “Then we’ll turn it over to Gawker and see how much lipstick they can put on a pig”.
When his attorneys asked him on the stand if he felt ashamed, Hogan responded, “I was embarrassed by what it did to me as a person, but it was even embarrassing as a character”. Clem told him to come over to the house and when he arrived, Hogan said Heather Clem took him by the hand and led him to the bedroom.
Hulk Hogan seemed to be in a good mood as he entered a courtroom in St. Petersburg, Fla., where the former WWE Hall of Famer will go against Gawker Media in a $100-million lawsuit.
Gawker claims that – since Hogan is a public figure – the sex tape is newsworthy. Gawker founder Nick Denton is also a defendant.
Berry also said news of the tape, including screen shots, was on other gossip sites before Gawker published the video.
“He was holding my father as my father passed away”, Hogan said.
Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was in court on Wednesday. Gawker’s lawyers claim that the $100 million lawsuit, which would completely bankrupt the company, is about nothing more than a celebrity caught with his trousers down (literally) trying to control the narrative about his sexual escapades.
The website’s lawyer, Michael Berry, said the writers and editors were interested in telling the truth and that images and videos were part of the evidence.
However, the radio presenter filmed it and the Gawker website published the resulting sex tape.
On Monday afternoon, the 62-year-old Hogan – whose real name is Terry Bollea – took the witness stand, clad in all black including his signature bandana, and asserted that Gawker invaded his privacy and caused deep emotional distress when it posted a video of him having sex.
– Opening statements got underway this morning in the civil trial between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and a popular news website.
People at Gawker tend to talk about “the Hogan case” in apocalyptic terms, suggesting that it could very well bring down Mr. Denton’s entire empire. “The simple unvarnished truth”.
Monday was the first day in the trial that is expected to last up to three weeks.
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“It gives you artistic liberty when you’re Hulk Hogan to be a character”, he added.
