The jury hearing Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit found the gossip website invaded the wrestling icon’s privacy when it published grainy footage of him having sex with his best friend’s wife.
Hogan bowed his head and
appeared to cry when the verdict came down. His longtime lawyer David Houston smiled and reached out to pat him on the back.
HULK HOGAN A 'FAMILY GUY,' LAWYER SAYS IN GAWKER TRIAL
The St. Petersburg, Fla., jury awarded $55 million for economic injuries and $60 million for emotional distress.
“Praying,” Hogan tweeted shortly after the six jurors started their deliberations around 1 p.m. Friday.
The lightning-fast verdict came after spirited closing arguments delivered Friday morning.
Hogan’s camp said the $100 million lawsuit against Gawker centered on the sacred right to privacy that all people — no matter how famous — should enjoy when engaging in sexual relations in a private bedroom.
Gawker argued that bedrock First Amendment rights and the “Internet as we know it” hung in the balance.
Addressing jurors first on Friday, Hogan’s lawyer said his client was really just a lonely and self-conscious family guy in search of a home-cooked meal when he hopped in the sack with Heather Clem in 2007.
MANDATORY NYPOST OUTPOOL/REUTERS
Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, whose company has to pay $115 million to Hogan.
He said Hogan, now 62, was utterly blindsided when Gawker posted video of the lusty liaison on its website in 2012.
“I think that being in a bedroom with your best friend's wife should be something Terry should expect to be private,” lawyer Kenneth Turkel said, using Hogan's real name Terry Bollea.
Turkel said despite Hogan's public image as a strapping stud, he has softer side in private.
“He is self-conscious about the size of his head,” said Turkel as he explained his client's penchant for head-covering bandanas.
“He is a regular family guy,” the lawyer said.
Cole was married to shock jock Bubba “the Love Sponge” Clem at the time the sex tape was recorded. She said in court this week that her husband urged her to have sex with Hogan.
“This case is about those areas that even celebrities should have privacy,” said Turkel.
EX-GAWKER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: HULK HOGAN SEX TAPE ARTICLE WASN'T PORN
In his own closing argument, Gawker lawyer Michael Sullivan defended the site’s former editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio arguing that Hogan’s public boasts about his sex life diminished his right to privacy.
POOL PHOTO NEW YORK POST OUTSTEVE NESIUS/AP
Former Gawker Media editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio said Hogan's public boasts about his sex life diminished his right to privacy.
“They seek to punish Mr. Daulerio for adding his voice to the others that were already speaking about the Hulk Hogan sex tape — a chorus of voices in which Hulk Hogan is often the loudest,” Sullivan said.
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