Credit William Windsor for the write up.
Hulk Hogan’s $100-million sex tape lawsuit against online media company Gawker continued this week with both Gawker founder, Nick Denton, and former Gawker editor, A.J. Daulerio, taking the witness stand.
On cross-examination, Denton, whose testimony was spread out over two days, testified that celebrities enjoy “a smaller zone” of privacy than other members of the general public. Denton claimed that the sex video edited by Gawker had “value” insofar as it was interesting to millions of people. Also, Denton stated that the clip was in step with Gawker’s mission of producing “true and interesting” content.
The one minute and forty-one second clip published by Gawker, which was pared down from a video about thirty minutes in duration, includes nine seconds of sex. Denton told jurors that Gawker would not be protected by constitutional freedom of speech principles if the sex shown in Gawker’s clip was gratuitous in nature.
Daulerio, who was Gawker’s editor when the clip was published, echoed Denton’s testimony, indicating that the clip included only nine seconds of actual sex for the purpose of confirming that the encounter really happened. Daulerio, who admitted that Hogan’s p—s is not newsworthy, testified that the most interesting parts of the video were the conversations between Hogan and Heather Clem, Hogan’s sexual partner in the video.
Notably, Daulerio also admitted that he gave no thought to blurring out any of the images in the video and no effort was made to contact Hogan before the video was published.
In 2012, Gawker posted an approximately two-minute video, which shows Hogan having a sexual encounter with the then-wife of radio shock jock, Bubba ‘The Love Sponge’ Clem. The civil case turns on the legal question of whether Hogan’s right to privacy trumps the newsworthiness of the sex tape and Gawker’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
While Gawker argues that Hogan has made his sex life a matter of public concern by talking about it openly in the media, Hogan counters that he still suffers from the humiliation of the sex tape being published. A verdict in favor of ‘The Hulkster’ could put Gawker out of business.
