Hulk Hogan Awarded $115 Million in Gawker Sex Tape Case

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Except the Appeals Court Judge Gawker is trying to get has a history of siding with them and reversing Jury decisions.

 

[Redryhno]

Good. That sextape pretty much ruined Hogan's carreer and Gawker are a bunch of fucking twats.

Did he still really have a career? I thought he kinda did that himself with his racist rants awhile back and his messy divorce.

Also, everyone needs to stop spazing out about the $115 million award, it will get reduced in appeals, it always does.

Thing is, most of that came about because he, rightfully, made a stink about them putting up the tape in the first place. And can we really deny a guy who was an icon as a persona simply because he said things in his own time? He was taken out of the hall of fame, denied his legacy, however meager it was, and everyone deserves the chance to relive past glory. And Gawker decided that if they couldn't shut him up with "FUCK THE JUDGE" articles, they'd bring him down with them using every shitty little playground trick they could. Do you really think anyone would've known or cared about him, his divorce, or shitty personality if they hadn't made it their mission to make sure everyone knew about it?

The Home Gourmet was a kiddie diddler, doesn't change the fact that he inspired half a generation to actually use their kitchens as more than frozen food storage. Paula Dean said "******" once twenty years ago that was released on a tape and people want to forget how she made some of the most common and looked-down upon foods in the U.S. staples of even higher-income households. Johnathan Winters spent more time in institutions than he did at home, but is widely regarded as one of the funniest men in the last century.

Yeah, he might've been a piece of shit in his private life, but professionally he was one of those global giants. Nobody I knew growing up watched wrestling and he was one of the few we knew about. Still don't know anything about wrestling, but I know some of the names and what they did. And to take him out of that when he was that big over something so incredibly minor that had nothing to do with his persona is just disgusting.

 

[The Material Sheep]

Good. That sextape pretty much ruined Hogan's carreer and Gawker are a bunch of fucking twats.

Did he still really have a career? I thought he kinda did that himself with his racist rants awhile back and his messy divorce.

Also, everyone needs to stop spazing out about the $115 million award, it will get reduced in appeals, it always does.

The racist rant was stripped from part of the sextape that Kotaku put and conveniently released the transcript of after Hogan originally sued. The people who originally released it were less than credible to begin with let alone financially incentivized to discredit Hogan before the lawsuit went into full swing. I suspect there was an aspect of truth to the off color remarks made in the privacy of his home, but to pretend that there weren't likely alterations made to the transcript to further discredit Hogan and make things look worse than they were, is being far more generous than Gawker deserves. Gawker is almost 100% responsible for the ruining of Hulk Hogan's career no ifs ands or buts. If you deserve to have your career ruined because you had a moment of poor judgment of rhetoric with a confidant, than whatever you'll find few people who can truly stand to scrutiny, but I'd suspect that most would see that as a place where you can go to vent, be unreasonable, and ultimately come out with a cooler head. Gawker is just a scummy horrid organization, and when they got nailed down for their profligate behavior, they played dirty to try and maintain their lifestyle. It didn't work, and we should be glad it didn't.

 

[Worgen]

Good. That sextape pretty much ruined Hogan's carreer and Gawker are a bunch of fucking twats.

Did he still really have a career? I thought he kinda did that himself with his racist rants awhile back and his messy divorce.

Also, everyone needs to stop spazing out about the $115 million award, it will get reduced in appeals, it always does.

Thing is, most of that came about because he, rightfully, made a stink about them putting up the tape in the first place. And can we really deny a guy who was an icon as a persona simply because he said things in his own time? He was taken out of the hall of fame, denied his legacy, however meager it was, and everyone deserves the chance to relive past glory. And Gawker decided that if they couldn't shut him up with "FUCK THE JUDGE" articles, they'd bring him down with them using every shitty little playground trick they could. Do you really think anyone would've known or cared about him, his divorce, or shitty personality if they hadn't made it their mission to make sure everyone knew about it?

The Home Gourmet was a kiddie diddler, doesn't change the fact that he inspired half a generation to actually use their kitchens as more than frozen food storage. Paula Dean said "******" once twenty years ago that was released on a tape and people want to forget how she made some of the most common and looked-down upon foods in the U.S. staples of even higher-income households. Johnathan Winters spent more time in institutions than he did at home, but is widely regarded as one of the funniest men in the last century.

Yeah, he might've been a piece of shit in his private life, but professionally he was one of those global giants. Nobody I knew growing up watched wrestling and he was one of the few we knew about. Still don't know anything about wrestling, but I know some of the names and what they did. And to take him out of that when he was that big over something so incredibly minor that had nothing to do with his persona is just disgusting.

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

 

[The Great JT]

Now all I can wonder is what will the Dungeon of Doom do next to destroy Hulkamania?

 

[Redryhno]

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

And most of them are actually nasty things like dog fighting, wife beating, burning down the orphanages of kittens, steroid use, etc. Having a bitchfit in private shouldn't disqualify one from it. And I"m still partially against it when they're disqualified with something that doesn't involve the game/sport/etc. Pete Rose it sucks for, but he bet on his own games(never threw one, played as hard as he could no matter what, but still gambled on them), and I can understand why that disqualifies him.But shit said around friends and not as a professional? Fuck. That. Shit.

 

[Deshin]

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

And most of them are actually nasty things like dog fighting, wife beating, burning down the orphanages of kittens, steroid use, etc. Having a bitchfit in private shouldn't disqualify one from it. And I"m still partially against it when they're disqualified with something that doesn't involve the game/sport/etc. Pete Rose it sucks for, but he bet on his own games(never threw one, played as hard as he could no matter what, but still gambled on them), and I can understand why that disqualifies him.But shit said around friends and not as a professional? Fuck. That. Shit.

If they started removing people from pro wrestling hall of fames for random shit, nobody would be in the hall of fame.

Except maybe the Rock.

Everyone else is either a drug addict, racist, wife beater, or just plain batshit insane.

 

[DemomanHusband]

Thing is, most of that came about because he, rightfully, made a stink about them putting up the tape in the first place. And can we really deny a guy who was an icon as a persona simply because he said things in his own time? He was taken out of the hall of fame, denied his legacy, however meager it was, and everyone deserves the chance to relive past glory. And Gawker decided that if they couldn't shut him up with "FUCK THE JUDGE" articles, they'd bring him down with them using every shitty little playground trick they could. Do you really think anyone would've known or cared about him, his divorce, or shitty personality if they hadn't made it their mission to make sure everyone knew about it?

The Home Gourmet was a kiddie diddler, doesn't change the fact that he inspired half a generation to actually use their kitchens as more than frozen food storage. Paula Dean said "******" once twenty years ago that was released on a tape and people want to forget how she made some of the most common and looked-down upon foods in the U.S. staples of even higher-income households. Johnathan Winters spent more time in institutions than he did at home, but is widely regarded as one of the funniest men in the last century.

Yeah, he might've been a piece of shit in his private life, but professionally he was one of those global giants. Nobody I knew growing up watched wrestling and he was one of the few we knew about. Still don't know anything about wrestling, but I know some of the names and what they did. And to take him out of that when he was that big over something so incredibly minor that had nothing to do with his persona is just disgusting.

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

 

[Worgen]

Thing is, most of that came about because he, rightfully, made a stink about them putting up the tape in the first place. And can we really deny a guy who was an icon as a persona simply because he said things in his own time? He was taken out of the hall of fame, denied his legacy, however meager it was, and everyone deserves the chance to relive past glory. And Gawker decided that if they couldn't shut him up with "FUCK THE JUDGE" articles, they'd bring him down with them using every shitty little playground trick they could. Do you really think anyone would've known or cared about him, his divorce, or shitty personality if they hadn't made it their mission to make sure everyone knew about it?

The Home Gourmet was a kiddie diddler, doesn't change the fact that he inspired half a generation to actually use their kitchens as more than frozen food storage. Paula Dean said "******" once twenty years ago that was released on a tape and people want to forget how she made some of the most common and looked-down upon foods in the U.S. staples of even higher-income households. Johnathan Winters spent more time in institutions than he did at home, but is widely regarded as one of the funniest men in the last century.

Yeah, he might've been a piece of shit in his private life, but professionally he was one of those global giants. Nobody I knew growing up watched wrestling and he was one of the few we knew about. Still don't know anything about wrestling, but I know some of the names and what they did. And to take him out of that when he was that big over something so incredibly minor that had nothing to do with his persona is just disgusting.

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

I thought they mostly did it for steroid use and match fixing?

 

[DemomanHusband]

Thing is, most of that came about because he, rightfully, made a stink about them putting up the tape in the first place. And can we really deny a guy who was an icon as a persona simply because he said things in his own time? He was taken out of the hall of fame, denied his legacy, however meager it was, and everyone deserves the chance to relive past glory. And Gawker decided that if they couldn't shut him up with "FUCK THE JUDGE" articles, they'd bring him down with them using every shitty little playground trick they could. Do you really think anyone would've known or cared about him, his divorce, or shitty personality if they hadn't made it their mission to make sure everyone knew about it?

The Home Gourmet was a kiddie diddler, doesn't change the fact that he inspired half a generation to actually use their kitchens as more than frozen food storage. Paula Dean said "******" once twenty years ago that was released on a tape and people want to forget how she made some of the most common and looked-down upon foods in the U.S. staples of even higher-income households. Johnathan Winters spent more time in institutions than he did at home, but is widely regarded as one of the funniest men in the last century.

Yeah, he might've been a piece of shit in his private life, but professionally he was one of those global giants. Nobody I knew growing up watched wrestling and he was one of the few we knew about. Still don't know anything about wrestling, but I know some of the names and what they did. And to take him out of that when he was that big over something so incredibly minor that had nothing to do with his persona is just disgusting.

I seem to recall it not being uncommon to remove the legacy of sports figures who get caught in things. At least recent sports figures, if they have been in the hall of fame too long then its too much trouble to remove them. Then again, I'm not into sports.

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

I thought they mostly did it for steroid use and match fixing?

Hoo boy, if they did it just for that in the WWE, there'd be no WWE. They play by wholly different rules there.

 

[Deshin]

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

WWE's HoF is a minefield of politics. Sunny did a sextape recently; still in the HoF despite being an all round ***** and addict. Chyna did a couple of sex tapes a while back, is arguably mentally unstable, yet is blackballed from the HoF because of heat with HHH. Go figure.

 

[jurnag12]

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

WWE's HoF is a minefield of politics. Sunny did a sextape recently; still in the HoF despite being an all round ***** and addict. Chyna did a couple of sex tapes a while back, is arguably mentally unstable, yet is blackballed from the HoF because of heat with HHH. Go figure.

Hell, The Ultimate Warrior was a public speaker for a while with delightful speeches containing phrases such as "Queering doesn't make the world work", and they named a damn award after him a few years back.

The thing about the WWE Hall of Fame is that as long as you don't cause the company bad PR, they really don't care about removing you. The only reason Hogan, arguably the single most well-known wrestler of the modern age and an instrumental part of the WWE's rise to nigh-monopoly of the American wrestling industry, got kicked out is because of the massive amounts of negative PR it caused. I can pretty much guarantee that he'll be back there somewhere within the next decade once this has all blown over.

I mean, hell, Warrior came back with zero issue, Stone Cold's been convicted for domestic abuse, and Jimmy Snuka is currently on trial for the death of his girlfriend 32 years back for which charges were somehow never pressed (He was removed from the Hall of Fame once he was arrested last year, but the company damn well knew about this before that). Which isn't even going into things like Randy Savage's psychologically unhealthy relationship with Elizabeth Hulette and Pat Patterson's alleged sexual misconduct in the 90s.

 

[Deshin]

I can pretty much guarantee that he'll be back there somewhere within the next decade once this has all blown over.

I'd wager sooner rather than later. All Hogan needs to do is his usual rounds of morning talk show spots (which he will, celebrating his victory) and tell the world he's learned his lesson. Cry a crocodile tear or two behind his sunglasses, and that'll be enough good publicity for WWE to give him a pass.

 

[Karadalis]

I can pretty much guarantee that he'll be back there somewhere within the next decade once this has all blown over.

I'd wager sooner rather than later. All Hogan needs to do is his usual rounds of morning talk show spots (which he will, celebrating his victory) and tell the world he's learned his lesson. Cry a crocodile tear or two behind his sunglasses, and that'll be enough good publicity for WWE to give him a pass.

And it should be. We all said some shit in private we would never say in public. Hogan was angry when he said these things IN PRIVATE.

Jesus, its not like he partook in a KKK rally. The shit he said in a fit of anger IN PRIVATE should have never been aired in the first place.

But the "leak" of him daring to use the word "******" made for some good shitflinging and was a blatant attempt by gawker to discredit and damage hogan before the court and the public eye.

Hogan is as much as a racist then anyone else who got pissed at people who fit racial stereotypes. Just because hogan might not be the "nicest" guy doesnt mean he deserved what happened to him just because Gawker things they are gods and can nilly willy ruin lives and careers, something they have done again and again and again time after time.

It was about nigh time someone with the necesary influence and money took them to court because many of the people whose lives they ruined couldnt do it since in this day and age only the rich and famous seem to be able to afford justice... and gawker knew that, so they tried their damnest to ruin hogans career in order to intimidate him into stopping.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

The actual removal from 'sports history' is usually saved for athletes/performers who have done something incredibly heinous. Say, for example, murdering their family and then dying. What Hulk did was take part in a swing and then said a few racially insensitive things during, which really is closer to a pre-fight scripted encounter in the WWE than it is a crime. I'll bet you he was disowned entirely because of the embarrassment of the sextape, with the racial insensitivity being a convenient scapegoat.

WWE's HoF is a minefield of politics. Sunny did a sextape recently; still in the HoF despite being an all round ***** and addict. Chyna did a couple of sex tapes a while back, is arguably mentally unstable, yet is blackballed from the HoF because of heat with HHH. Go figure.

The "heat with HHH" thing is the key there. She deserves to be in the HoF more than Sunny. I think Sunny is still on shaky ground though after allegedly hocking her HoF ring.

 

[Deshin]

And it should be. We all said some shit in private we would never say in public. Hogan was angry when he said these things IN PRIVATE.

Jesus, its not like he partook in a KKK rally. The shit he said in a fit of anger IN PRIVATE should have never been aired in the first place.

But the "leak" of him daring to use the word "******" made for some good shitflinging and was a blatant attempt by gawker to discredit and damage hogan before the court and the public eye.

Hogan is as much as a racist then anyone else who got pissed at people who fit racial stereotypes.

I've always liked Hogan and I looked at the whole thing this way:

Yes he said "a bad word", but his marriage was breaking up and he was about to plow his friend's wife.

At the worst, he's an old racist but kept it to himself and never led it be evident in his work in dealing with black people and even training up black wrestlers.
At the best, he was a man whose entire career was built around him being this larger than life symbol and events were happening in his life that he had no control over and in a moment of weakness and awkwardness he said some stupid shit to sound like a "big man".

 

[Callate]

Generally, I fall on the side of free speech, the exception being where there is real, provable harm done (and no commensurate good done). Gawker totally fell on the wrong side of this one, and clearly failed to see it. Hogan may be a public figure, but he wasn't commenting on public policy or employing a significant number of people, let alone running for office; there was no serious argument to be had that distributing any part of his sex tape was in the public interest. Except the interest of the "public" that seems to view all celebrities as distant friends they refer to by first name and have a toxic, passive-aggressive relationship with that allows them to be harshly judgmental without having to show any kind of equanimity or personal higher ground.

The very word "gawker" brings to mind the people who get in the way of emergency services while scrambling to get the best view of a gruesome accident or crime. I guess it should come as no surprise they've lived down to their name. Frankly, I hope the judgement stands.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Poor Gawker. I'm truly upset.

[small]Couldn't have happened to a nicer group of fuckin' scumbags.[/small]

 

[kiri3tsubasa]

Their is's much I can say that I haven't said in a previous thread. Some new info I got from a friend of mine who is an appellate lawyer says Gawker is legally required to pay all 115 million before going to appeal.

What I said previously

If only they had the ethics to say no to an illegally acquired physical tape (person that gave gawker tape has been charged with theft as far as I know) then they wouldn't be in this situation. They could then deal with the 4-6 other suits that are expected to pay in the tens if not hundreds of millions for regarding other unethical/illegal practices. Sorry gawker, New York State law requires you to pay interns.