Hulk Hogan Refiles $100M Lawsuit Against Website for Posting Sex Tape
Whatcha gonna do, Gawker.com, when Hulkamania runs wild on you?
The media website is feeling the pressure from the wrestler-turned-reality star after he refiled his $100 million lawsuit against them in a Florida state court, after dismissing it on a federal level last month. Hogan has been after Gawker since October 4 when it posted a 90-second clip (and believe us, that was enough!) of his sex tape with Heather Clem, the then-wife, now-ex of his best friend, radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge.
According to Hogan’s lawyer David R. Houston, Hogan (real name: Terry Bolea) did so because he’s also suing Heather and Bubba in Florida, where they both reside, and he wants to consolidate both suits – which boils down to less paperwork … and attorney fees!
In his original lawsuit against Gawker, Hogan claimed the site made him look bad since the sex tape was filmed while he was still married to Linda Hogan. But in court papers, the site retorted back that his reputation was already tarnished, considering he admitted to infidelity in his 2009 book, My Life Outside the Ring. (Gawker had no comment on the legal matter when contacted by omg!.(
In Hogan’s lawsuit against Heather and Bubba, he states he "had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his consensual, intimate activities in a private bedroom and reasonably believed that his privacy was safe and protected." His attorney adds that the defendants’ actions were “illegal, outrageous, and exceeded the bounds of human decency."
Bubba had adamantly denied he had any involvement in the taping or distribution of the sex tape between his best friend and his wife, which was recorded at his Florida home as he waited in his office. But in late October, he apologized, but didn’t exactly accept any wrongdoing. In a taped message that aired during his radio show, Bubba cleared Hogan of being the one who leaked the sex tape, saying, "It is my belief that Hulk is not involved, and has not ever been involved, in trying to release the video, or exploit it, or otherwise gain from the video’s release in any way."
After the sex tape made the rounds on the Internet, an embarrassed Hogan – who is now married to Jennifer McDaniels – told Howard Stern in an interview that Bubba allowed him to have sex with Heather because his relationship with first wife Linda was deteriorating. “I considered both people close friends,” he said of the couple. “There was ongoing dialogue over two years about this. I said, ‘Honestly, give me a break, stop, you’re joking.’ It was almost to a point of being funny. And then when I bottomed out, when my whole personal life was, you know, I was in a bad situation with … I knew my marriage was really screwed up bad … verbal and mental abuse.”
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