Former wrestling champion Hulk Hogan has won his lawsuit against online media and blog network Gawker. The Florida jury awarded Hogan with $25 million in punitive damages and $115 million in compensatory damages amounting to $140 million dollars in total damages according to CNBC.com.
Talks have circulated that someone was funding Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker. The rumors have been brought to light as PayPal co-founder and Silicon Valley billionaire steps out and admits supporting the former wrestler's case against Gawker.
One is a wrestling celebrity while the other, a venture capitalist. One wonders what could possibly have brought about such collaboration between personalities from such extreme ends of the spectrum.
Gawker did.
In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel when it published an article headlined "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people." It was but one of a series of articles about him and his friends which, according to him, had ruined people's lives for no reason, Thiel told an interview for The New York Times. Thiel further stated: "I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest."
In 2013 Hogan had been recorded having sex with his friend's wife without his knowledge; then two-minutes of such footage had been published online without his permission. Hogan claimed it was the ultimate invasion of his privacy, wrote TMZ.
While Terry Gene Bollea, Hulk Hogan's real name, cried as the Florida jury decided in his favor. Thiel continues to support other law suits brought up against Gawker. Thiel couldn't even be accused of endangering the principles of a free press as not only does he claim to respect journalists, he had contributed to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Thiel further pointed out (that) "I can defend myself. Most of the people they attack are not in my category. They usually attack less prominent, far less wealthy people that simply can't defend themselves", "even someone like Terry Bollea who is a millionaire and famous and a successful person didn't quite have the resources to do this alone."
LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. More care and concern is perhaps called for in respecting the rights of the community, not only because it is right, but that the "B" in LGBT may well also stand for "Billionaire".
