Hogan attorney Kenneth Turkel used his closing argument to paint the defendants – Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, former Gawker.com editor A.J. Daulerio and the parent company – as indecent gossip-mongers who make a mockery of journalism.
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The order to unseal the documents (vacating the order to seal them from your favorite judge and mine, Pamela Campbell) came Wednesday at around mid-day, causing a scramble among journalists hoping to see what it was the Hogan team has successfully kept hidden, with Judge Campbell’s help, since October/November 2015.
Hogan, 62, whose real name is Terry Bollea, said he did not know he was being recorded when the consensual encounter was filmed about a decade ago inside Bubba’s home.
Terry Bollea, known as professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, testifies in his case against the news website Gawker in St. Petersburg, Florida March 7, 2016.
Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies says if Hogan prevails, it could put Gawker out of business, which would radically alter our media landscape.
Hogan, who is suing in state court in St. Petersburg, Florida, near his home, seeks US$100 million (S$135 million) in damages.
The trial in Hogan’s lawsuit, in which he’s suing Gawker over the publication of a sex tape featuring the former wrestler and a friend’s wife, is coming to a close after nearly two weeks of testimony.
Gawker’s attorneys told the jury that the video is “not like a real celebrity sex tape” and urged them to watch the video, which contains nine seconds of sexual content. “What’s significant in the world of Gawker is a tape of my client in a private bedroom at the lowest point in his life, in a private act… and what they know at that time is that it was secretly recorded… they do nothing by way of trying to find anything out”.
Gawker said the post reflected the outlet’s mission to cover true and interesting subjects, stressing how Hogan made his sex life a public matter through his many statements about it.
Notes a report via the nypost: “She stated that [Bubba the Love Sponge Clem] insisted on it being videoed”, cops wrote in a November report, describing an interview with shock jock Clem’s ex-wife, Heather Cole, 41. Gawker has argued that the tape is newsworthy because Hogan is a celebrity who had publicly bragged about his sexual prowess and drawn attention to the tape.
“I felt more embarrassed”, she said of Hogan’s public comments on the tape.
Hogan’s lawyers also said Gawker’s value increased by $15 million due to the post, while Gawker contends it made $11,000 in ad revenue.
Closing arguments are expected Friday.
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“No, because it’s an advertisement for a promotional piece in character”, he said.
