Hulk Hogan has been awarded $115 million in damages after suing a website over a published sex tape.
The wrestling legend was featured on Gawker having sex with Heather Cole who was wife of Bubba Clem at the time, a friend of Hogan’s. The video was posted in 2012.
The verdict was reached by a Florida jury on Friday after Hogan’s legal team argued that his privacy was violated and that the video which the New York-based gossip website published was not newsworthy.
Hogan was awarded $115 million in damages after a reported six-hour deliberation from the jury.
“This is not only his victory today, but also anyone else who’s been victimised by tabloid journalism,” Hogan’s lawyer David Houston said after the case of freedom of the press versus a celebrity’s right to privacy.
Told ya I was gonna slam another giant HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) March 19, 2016
Thank you God for justice,only love 4Life. HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) March 19, 2016
Despite the verdict, the Gawker team are adamant that they will appeal the case after “key evidence and the most important witness were both improperly withheld from this jury.”
Statement from @gawker founder: on to the appeals court pic.twitter.com/VXGzeqXTP8
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 18, 2016
