Hulk Hogan Taking Gawker Media to Court Over Sex Tape
— -- Hulk Hogan has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Gawker Media for publishing his sex tape, and the two sides will face off in court next month.
"We're seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction against the video," Charles Harder, Hogan's attorney, told ABC News.
In 2012, Gawker published video depicting Hogan having sex with the then-wife of his friend, a disc jockey nicknamed Bubba the Love Sponge.
Heather Dietrick, Gawker's president and general counsel, argued that publishing the tape was an issue of newsworthiness. After all, she said, Hogan often spoke of his sex life during interviews.
"Months before Gawker ever published, this was a giant story in the news," she told ABC News.
Legal analyst Dan Abrams said on "Good Morning America" that Gawker has a "very strong argument," though the trick will be getting a Florida jury to look at the matter from a legal standpoint and not to act as media critics.
Still, "this has worked its way up through the federal courts on separate questions and, just about every time, Gawker has ended up winning," he said. "Certainly, in the end, Gawker has won as a legal matter, and I think that as a legal matter they're going to end up winning again."
