He said the claim was an invention in keeping with the Hogan character.
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On Tuesday, Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, took the stand again as the defense brought up Bollea’s past mainly from the time of his wrestling career to his actions after the sex tape was leaked.
Gawker sees its 2012 post as protected speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and contends it was reporting on a celebrity who publicly discussed his sex life. Hogan said he didn’t know he was being filmed when he had sex with his then-best friend’s wife.
The wrestler said the incident occurred at a low-point as his marriage was ending, in a home where he had let down his guard.
Although the trial has been full of salacious details – an interview on Tuesday mentioned Hogan’s “thong-shaped tan line” that was visible in the video – it is also a serious First Amendment case.
Hogan is due to be cross-examined by Gawker attorneys a day after testifying to his humiliation over the 2012 posting.
The professional wrestler, who is now testifying in court as he fights for $100 million damages after website Gawker posted a clip of him having sex with Heather Clem, admits he has not “been able to get back up to who” he was before it was released.
Hogan said that he was in his Hulk Hogan persona when he did the interviews, and made bawdy jokes in character. Mr. Bollea insisted that any such disclosures in public were purely an act, a crucial component of his “character” as Hulk Hogan.
He said he willingly had sex with his then-best friend’s wife, with Bubba’s blessing, but didn’t know the tryst was being taped.
During cross-examination, a lawyer for Gawker questioned Hogan about inconsistencies in his evidence and media interviews.
“My problem is this whole videotape that you guys put up”, Hogan told Gawker’s lawyer.
He said his issue is not the existence of the sex tape, but the fact it will now “live forever on the internet”.
“Celebrity sex is incredibly tiresome”, said Berry.
‘He wants the public to have the simple, unvarnished truth … the unvarnished truth about public figures’.
In other testimony, Tony Burton, a talent agent for a radio competitor of Clem’s, said he contacted Gawker for a client, to get an address where something could be shipped.
Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, sat in the front row on the first day of a civil trial in St. Petersburg, located in the county where Hogan lives, along with a former editor involved, A.J. Daulerio. Hogan said he did not, that it was his publicist’s job.
Bubba handed him a condom and said he was heading to his office, Hogan testified.
In one audio clip from the Bubba The Love Sponge Show, the DJ and Hogan discussed the length of Hogan’s penis.
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They worked tirelessly to prove that Hulk Hogan always talked about, wrote about sex.
