A Closer Look At Hulk Hogan’s Lawsuit Against Gawker Get your popcorn, this is gonna be good

Infamous SJW-run gossip rag Gawker is being sued by former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. The former wrestler has stated in his lawsuit that Gawker violated his privacy by distributing a sex tape of him that was never meant to be public. Hogan’s suit is asking for Gawker to pay him up to $100 million in damages for emotional distress. If Gawker loses the case, their operations will take a severe hit, and they may possibly be forced out of business. Reaxxion is taking a closer look at the suit.

Background Of The Case

Gawker is no stranger to lawsuits. They’ve been sued by their own interns, by celebrities like Limp Bizkit, by Quentin Tarantino and by countless other celebrities and public figures. Most of these lawsuits were either won in court or so baseless that they got dismissed with prejudiced. Gawker’s ego has become so inflated from winning these small skirmishes that they’ve started to believe they’re invincible. The facade began to crumble when they obtained Hulk Hogan’s sex tape.

In their eternal quest to satiate their scandal-loving audience, Gawker decided to report on the story. While reporting on truthful information about a celebrity having sex is perfectly legal, Gawker took it one step further by leaking the private tape. Unlike those “leaked” celebrity sex tapes made by D-list celebrities published by porn companies, this was a security camera recording Hogan having sex without his consent or even knowledge on private property.

Hogan sent Gawker a cease and desist order on the video when they posted it. In their gargantuan hubris, they didn’t comply, thinking they had immunity from legal threats. Hogan had two options to deal with Gawker’s insouciance: ignore them and let their yellow journalism tarnish his brand or file a lawsuit.

Hulk Is Serious!

Hulk Hogan and his legal team knew that celebrity lawsuits tend to be viewed as frivolous by both the public and the courts. In a genius move, Hogan didn’t even mention in his legal requests that the story shouldn’t have been reported on. Instead, he made his court case about the leaked video and its importance to the story. Could Gawker report on the story without uploading the video and invading his privacy?

Hogan even hired famed journalism expert Mike Foley to be his star witness. Foley was paid $250 an hour to read Gawker and testify about its “journalistic” integrity. In a twist that everybody expected, Foley’s criticism of Gawker and its ethics sound familiar to those of us involved in GamerGate. The criticisms Foley made about Gawker could easily be applied to its gaming subsidiary Kotaku: A website devoid of sanity and any ethics whatsoever.

How Is Gawker Responding?

Gawker is now fighting one of its biggest court cases in a decade, yet they haven’t tried to cut their expenses at all. They recently spent $75 million dollars for a 15 year lease on Fifth Avenue and are completely renovating a big Hungarian building. Nick Denton (founder and CEO) has even admitted that the court case could bankrupt his company. Hulk Hogan doesn’t need all of the $100 million he wants to end Gawker. The court case could start an uncomfortable avalanche of unintended costs.

One of the unintended consequences that Gawker will face is the barrier for public figures to sue them. This will be lowered if the lawsuit is won. The Hulk Hogan case could strip the perimeter defense of previous legal uncertainty. Since no other public figure has ever won a case like the Hogan vs. Gawker one, this could lead to a domino effect of other public figures getting the courage to sue Gawker for their privacy violations.

Another effect that isn’t stated by many news companies covering this lawsuit is that Gawker’s insurance rates will jump as well. Many media companies get media insurance to deal with frivolous lawsuits and other legal fees required to run their company. Gawker has already been sued once by their Insurance company over the Hulk Hogan story. A loss in court could mean that their insurance rates will soar even higher.

Don’t listen to the MSM hacks downplaying the story: Gawker is fighting for its life right now. They’re away from their operating headquarters in New York and are in Hulk’s arena. They’re cruising for a serious bruising.

Read More: Class Action Lawsuit Against Gawker Heats Up As Lawyers Get Help From #GamerGate