According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, here are the latest details regarding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against The Gawker. Gawker published a “highlight reel” of moments from a sex tape featuring Hogan and Heather Clem (wife of Bubba the Love Sponge) in 2012, which led to the lawsuit. Hogan claims that Gawker invaded his privacy, while the website claims that the footage was “newsworthy”. THR adds that the footage was watched over 2.5 million times.
Gawker is trying to defend that the clip they posted was “newsworthy,” and are now looking to introduce evidence to show that “Hogan has injected his sexual prowess into the public sphere” on several occasions. They cite Hogan, “fondling women’s breasts for a Rocky III publicity photo shoot and discussing in interviews where on a woman he likes to ejaculate, the size of his genitalia and the use of his mustache when performing oral sex.”
THR spoke with a legal expert who deals with celebrity sex tapes and images, and the expert says that if this case goes the distance (to a full legal decision) that this could change many cases of this type in Hollywood going forward. The expert also mentions that these cases are usually settled out of court.
Gawker has reportedly spent $1 million on the case, and could reportedly lose hundreds of millions if they were to lose. For Hogan, the threat of a public trial could damage his pubic persona. Hogan spoke to THR, stating the following about the case…
“I have never been afraid to fight for what I think is right, I promised in the beginning that I would see this through to the end to hold Gawker accountable. And I will.”
