Latest news with #Gawker
News18
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
'Karma Will Find You': Netizens Slam Writer Celebrating Hulk Hogan's Death
Last Updated: Hulk Hogan, the iconic wrestler, died at 71. Yvette d'Entremont, a former Gawker writer, celebrated his death on X but faced backlash and deleted her post. Ace professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71. While fans mourn the death of headscarf-wearing icon, a woman actually celebrated his death. She posted on X expressing 'desire to dance on Hogan's grave'. However, upon receiving massive backlash, she deleted her post. The woman is Yvette d'Entremont, former writer with Gawker media. To contextualise the whole controversy, Gawker Media firm went bankrupt after Hulk Hogan sued the organisation for publishing his private sex tape. In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media and then added $25 million in punitive damages. Hogan sued after Gawker in 2012 posted a video of him having sex with his former best friend's wife. He contended the post violated his privacy. Yvette d'Entremont's deleted post on X reads, 'So Hulk Hogan died. As a former Gawker writer (as are all Gawker writers thanks to Hulk Hogan), I won't be the first or the last to say 'f** that guy.' Dance on any grave you want to, but this one's mine." Social Media Backlash Another post on X reads, 'She is a bad person and now everybody knows it." A third posted, 'Lol. You deleted your original post." A fourth wrote, 'Karma will find you, it won't be kind." Former WWE champion, Hulk Hogan, died on Thursday. He was the first wrestler to host 'Saturday Night Live," the only wrestler to flex his 24-inch pythons on the cover of Sports Illustrated and stood tall as the hated Thunderlips against Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa on the big screen. view comments First Published: July 26, 2025, 17:33 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How Hulk Hogan Leg-Dropped the Digital Media Industry
Among the 99.99 percent of Americans who are not journalists, Hulk Hogan's name most likely summons a charming and patriotic cloud of associations: vitamins, 'real American,' ripped shirts, leg drops, mustache, pectorals, 'brother.' But among our diminishing tribe, Hogan's wrestling persona falls away, and the man, Terry Bollea, looms larger. Because he — not Hogan — was the plaintiff in an invasion of privacy lawsuit, Bollea v. Gawker, that reshaped the whole landscape of the media business. The tawdry story begins at some point in or around 2006. Bollea was having trouble in his marriage and was, by his own account, severely depressed. One day, he visited the home of his friend, a Tampa shock jock named Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Clem invited Bollea to have sex with his wife, Heather. The two apparently had an arrangement. But Clem also had a hidden camera in his bedroom — and what he probably didn't mention that day was that he was going to burn the footage onto a DVD, label it 'HOGAN' with a Sharpie, and leave it in an unlocked drawer. It took that tape somewhere around six years to reach the Manhattan offices of Gawker Media, in 2012. At the time, Gawker was no longer a gossipy blog for the media elite and those just outside the walls. It was that, plus a news aggregator, plus a tabloid, plus an occasional source of literary essays. It was, without question, the most interesting and unpredictable of the rising class of digital media properties. According to a later report by BuzzFeed News, Gawker's editor in chief, A.J. Daulerio, used a somewhat circular logic to determine the video had news value: A Hulk Hogan sex tape was fair game because there had previously been reported rumors about a Hulk Hogan sex tape. Consequentially, Daulerio made the decision not just to confirm the tape's existence and summarize its lurid contents but also to publish a roughly two-minute excerpt from it. Bollea's lawyers tried to have Gawker take the video down, but the site refused. In 2013, Bollea sued Gawker — as well as Daulerio and Gawker's founder, Nick Denton — for invasion of privacy, seeking damages of $100 million. Then, rather than settle the suit, as Gawker seemed to expect he would, Bollea spent years pursuing justice through the courts before finally winning at trial in 2016. In the end, the court ordered Gawker to pay $140 million in damages, forcing the company into bankruptcy. Its flagship site was eventually revived under different ownership, then shuttered again in 2023. (Daulerio's inciting post no longer exists, not even in the Internet Archive; the one apparently faithful copy I could find had been pasted contemporaneously on a message board connected to a boating lifestyle brand in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.) As Ben Smith recounts in 'Traffic,' his recent history of the rise of digital media, Daulerio was a creature of the earlier, meaner Gawker days. As editor of another Gawker property, Deadspin, he published questionably obtained pictures of athletes' penises, posted a link to peeping Tom footage of the ESPN reporter Erin Andrews changing in a hotel room, and published a video of a visibly drunk female college student having sex in a bar bathroom. According to a 2011 profile in GQ, Daulerio heard directly from a woman he took to be the person in the video, begging him to take it down; he initially refused, but relented the next day, admitting to the magazine that what the video depicted 'was possibly rape.' The Gawker that published the Hogan tape wasn't yet the website that it would become in the public imagination; digital media hadn't yet taken the crusading and moralizing form it would later that decade. In 2012, the site — and maybe the whole country — was on the other side of a fulcrum that was hard to see at the time. Just one year later, another Gawker site, Valleywag, would post the news that a completely unknown communications professional, Justine Sacco, had made a racially insensitive joke on Twitter, which led to her firing — and inaugurated a tumultuous new era in American life. The signals from the commingling worlds of digital and social media were clear: Not even a non-wrestling civilian could be totally sure that the beam would never be turned on them. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What Hulk Hogan Left Behind
Terry Gene Bollea, better known by his stage name, Hulk Hogan, died Thursday at the age of 71. For wrestling fans, he will be remembered as the man who, along with Vince McMahon, was responsible for turning professional wrestling into a popular mainstream sport and a franchise worth billions. But for many journalists, Mr. Hogan's legacy is altogether less impressive. He was fired from World Wrestling Entertainment for using the N-word repeatedly on tape and he used slurs to describe gay people. He prevented his colleagues from unionizing. His ex-wife and daughter have described him as physically and emotionally abusive. Most relevant to me, he sued Gawker, a news and entertainment site that I co-founded in 2002, because its editor published a clip from a tape that featured him having sex with his friend's wife. The lawsuit, to be clear, was not important because Gawker was important. Gawker was largely an entertainment site that, on its best days, reported presciently about powerful people behaving badly. The site published stories about the alleged sexual misconduct of many celebrities long before the #MeToo movement, and published Jeffrey Epstein's little black book way back in 2015. It could also be frivolous, crass, and even mean, which often rankled the powerful people it covered. But journalists' frivolity, vulgarity and snark all happen to be protected by the First Amendment, as long as what they write is truthful. Only there is an exception to that: When someone sues for invasion of privacy, the truth is no longer a defense. And that is what Mr. Hogan and his allies cynically exploited. Because that sex tape was undeniably Mr. Hogan, he could not sue Gawker for defamation and win. But Gawker had made plenty of powerful people angry in its day, one of whom was the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel. (A Gawker site had outed Mr. Thiel as gay in 2007 and later reported that his hedge fund had gone into free fall. Again, truthful.) What Mr. Thiel recognized then was that someone with deep pockets can try to drown an outlet in legal fees and make truth legally irrelevant by suing for invasion of privacy. Mr. Thiel funded Mr. Hogan's suit, intending to drag Gawker in and out of court until it was bankrupted either by the cost of fighting the lawsuit or by any damages awarded. After an initial suit on the basis of copyright infringement failed in federal court, Mr. Hogan brought a second suit against the publication in state court. He found a friendly jurisdiction in his hometown — Tampa, Fla. — where he sued Gawker for invasion of privacy. There, Mr. Hogan won his case. The jury awarded him damages of $140 million; Gawker ultimately settled for $31 million. A cocktail of bad luck and an angry billionaire resulted in an industry-defining judgment. Gawker did not have the money left to put up the $50 million bond needed to appeal the decision. The suit ultimately had a chilling effect on many journalists who cover powerful people. At one point during the trial, Mr. Hogan's lawyers successfully added individual journalists to their lawsuit. Under normal circumstances, those journalists would be indemnified by their employer. Mr. Hogan's lawyers went after the editor A.J. Daulerio personally. It left Mr. Daulerio on the hook for upward of millions of dollars that he could not possibly pay. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News18
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
'Hulkamania Forever': Hulk Hogan Honoured With Ten-Bell Salute On WWE SmackDown
Last Updated: The show began with superstars paying homage to the legend and a ten-bell salute to honour the memory of one of the biggest icons of the industry. The latest episode of WWE SmackDown opened with a touching tribute to the late great Hulk Hogan, who attained his heavenly abode on Wednesday. The show began with superstars paying homage to the legend and a ten-bell salute to honour the memory of one of the biggest icons of the industry. Hogan made wrestling a household name and brought the sport into the mainstream, passed away at the age of 71 following a cardiac arrest. SmackDown opens with a 10 bell salute for Hulk Hogan. — Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) July 26, 2025 ALSO READ| 'False Alarm?': AIFF Accused of Using Xavi's Name To Boost Profile Born Terry Eugene Bollea, Hogan, most famous for his iconic handlebar moustache, colourful bandanas and sticky catchphrases including, 'Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?" became the most recognisable figure in professional wrestling during the 1980s and early 1990s. Hogan, who headlined eight of the first nine WrestleMania, clinched the WWE championship half-a-dozen times, and went on to star in films, TV shows and commercials in his bid to celebrity status. His aura and over-the-top theatrics pulled in crowds in the millions during a time when wrestling wasn't as glamorous as it later became, hugely in thanks to the legend's contributios to the sport. Hogan also had an all-encompassing in-ring career as he portrayed characters inclusing an all-American babyface hero to the 'Hollywood Hogan' heel. Hogan was first inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 but was removed in 2015 after a leaked sex tape published by Gawker revealed him making racist remarks while being secretly recorded. He subsequently won a lawsuit against Gawker, receiving a substantial financial settlement that led to the outlet's bankruptcy. In 2020, Hulk Hogan was re-inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, this time as a member of the NWO, alongside wrestling legends Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. view comments First Published: July 26, 2025, 08:41 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Hulk Hogan's former best friend calls out wrestler's inner circle for denying his claims about health
One of Hulk Hogan's former good friends wants the unfortunate credit of being "right" about the wrestling legend's health issues. Bubba the Love Sponge had said since last month that Hogan's health was declining, even saying he was in the ICU for six weeks and on his deathbed. Hogan died Thursday at the age of 71. "I can't take away from what I've already said, and what I've already correctly predicted. But I am officially the guy that was the only one telling the truth about Hulk Hogan's physical condition," Bubba the Love Sponge said on his radio show. "And that has caused some people to say, 'You know what, Bubba was right.' No, I wish to God I wasn't right, because being right means we have a dead Hulk Hogan." The two men have a complicated history. It was Bubba's wife at the time who Hogan was involved with in a sex tape released by Gawker in 2012. The ordeal resulted in an eventual $115 million awarded to Hogan from the media outlet after he argued the release of the tape was an invasion of privacy. Nonetheless, Bubba appeared upset that his reports were dismissed by people in Hogan's inner circle. "I don't know if my telling the truth would be such a big deal if the people like his wife [Sky Daily], Brian Blair, Jimmy Hart, Eric Bischoff, Missy Beefcake and all the other keyboard tough guys were [calling me out]," he said. "I have a special connection to this guy that's not so special anymore. But, for 15 years, this guy was one of my best friends. We saw each other every day. There are things that I'll take to my grave that I know that him and I went through." A statement was released on Hogan's Instagram page about his death. "It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that we confirm we have lost a legend," the post said. "Our beloved Terry Bollea, known worldwide as Hulk Hogan, passed away today surrounded by his loved ones. "At this time of grief, we ask that everyone please respect the privacy of his family and friends. May we all take solace in the wonderful memories he left behind for the millions of fans worldwide whose lives he touched for more than four decades. He will be missed, but never forgotten." The superstar pro wrestler, whose real name was Terry Bollea, got his start in Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) in the late 1970s before he eventually joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. However, it wasn't until his return to the WWF, now the WWE, when he became the superstar that fans came to know. Vince McMahon had purchased the WWF from his father and chose Hogan to be the main attraction for the company. He started to wrestle when he saved Bob Backlund from an attack by the Wild Samoans. "Hulkamania" became the rage from there. Hogan was a six-time WWE champion, won the Royal Rumble twice and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as an individual in 2005 and as a member of the NWO in 2020. He was also a six-time world heavyweight champion in WCW and the IWGP champion in New Japan Pro-Wrestling once.
