It showed a consensual sexual encounter between the wrestler and the wife of his then best friend, radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge.
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The former pro wrestler, whose given name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker Media for $100 million for posting the video. “It lives forever”, Hogan said.
In other testimony, Tony Burton, a talent agent for a radio competitor of Clem’s, said he provided the sex video to Gawker.
He also acknowledged he has little privacy as Hulk Hogan, with people taking photos of him everywhere, including once in a urinal at a baseball game. The author of the post, former editor A.J. Daulerio, and Gawker Media founder Nick Denton are named as defendants, along with the site’s parent company.
“Did you ever consent to Gawker?” his attorney asked.
The sex video was posted by the online news and entertainment site Gawker, the defendant in the suit.
At the heart of Hogan’s argument is a freakish, invented set of privacy concerns that could do real damage to all sorts of journalism by limiting the media’s ability to represent what they’re talking about in their stories (it’s not surprising that Hogan also threw in copyright infringement charges on his original complaint).
Hulk also realized that his friend Bubba “The Love Sponge” Clem was responsible for recording the sex tape and allowing it to leak onto the internet. Jurors may be asked to consider how celebrity affects privacy.
“I was embarrassed about what it did to me as a person, but it was even embarrassing as a character”, he said. Gawker maintains Bollea regularly talked about his sex life on radio shows, so when an unmarked package containing a 30-minute sex tape showed up at their offices, it was newsworthy.
Hogan said that he was in his Hulk Hogan persona when he did the interviews, and made bawdy jokes in character. Advertisers do not post on Gawker’s items that are labelled “NSFW”, or “not safe for work”.
Additionally, Bollea says he didn’t have a problem with “news outlets discussing or even writing about the sex tape”, the Associated Press reports.
The wrestler insisted his attitude about the sex tape in that interview was a result of him being in character, as Hulk Hogan.
Hogan said he “didn’t have a problem discussing” the matter.
‘He wants the public to have the simple, unvarnished truth … the unvarnished truth about public figures’.
The 62-year-old took to the witness stand wearing his signature bandana at the civil case in St Petersburg, Florida.
Hogan attained pro wrestling stardom in the 1980s and 1990s, winning multiple championships.
He also became a celebrity outside his “Hulkamania” fan base, appearing in movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, Hogan Knows Best.
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During cross-examination, an attorney for Gawker questioned Hogan about inconsistencies in his testimony and media interviews. But in media interviews in 2012, Hogan said he asked Bubba Clem if he was being filmed.
