Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Hulk Hogan Sues Gawker For Leaking His Sex Tape

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

This is the story of Hulk Hogan and his lawsuit against Gawker after they leaked his private smash tape

So this is Hulk Hogan, the former WWE wrestler. But we're gonna call him Terry, because that's his real name. But one day, Terry allegedly cheats on his wife with one of his daughter's friends. I mean, they're all adults, but still, gross. And eventually when Terry's wife learns about his cheating, she gets pissed, and she goes and she files for divorce. And poor Terry, he's just devastated and he moves into a hotel so that his ex-wife and his kids can stay in their house, and as soon as he's alone, the weight of the whole situation

hits him. And he's an absolute wreck. So Terry starts hanging out a lot more with his best friend. This guy, Bubba, aka the radio host, Bubba the Love Sponge. And he also hangs out with Bubba's wife, this woman, Heather. And Heather and Bubba, they're like a really fun couple. But here's the thing about Bubba and Heather. They have what you would call an open marriage.

Specifically, Bubba likes to watch his wife smash with other men. But whatever, that's their business. However, it just so happens that Heather thinks Terry is foin, and I guess he thinks she's I too. Because one day, Bubba goes to Terry and he's like, hey, do you want to like smash with my wife while I watch? And Terry, he's like, cool. And soon enough, Terry's going to their house and he and he and he and he and he and he, he

Heather smash. And I guess it's a pretty good time for everyone because about a week later, they smash again. And then I guess they smash a third time too. And because I guess Heather's a good friend, when they're done smashing, Terry feels okay about opening up about his personal problems, about his kids and stuff like that. So I guess Terry just feels lucky to have good friends like Bubba and Heather. Until... Five years later, suddenly, bam. A website, called The Dirty, they post some images online of Terry and Heather Smashing. Those images are actually screenshots from a video of Terry and Heather smashing. And Terry finds out about this and he's like, a video.

We smashed, but like we didn't film it. How was there a video? Oh, but there was a video. There were several videos. Because five years before, Bubba had secretly set up a camera in the bedroom to record Terry and Heather smashing. without Terry's consent. And Bubba put that footage on a DVD,

so now there's a DVD of them smashing. Then someone, they believe it was an ex-employee of Bubba's, someone steals this DVD from Bubba and was trying to sell it to some internet gossip websites. That's how the dirty got the screenshots. Well, eventually, this gossipy website's called Gawker, it gets a hold of that DVD, and they write an article about it,

and they publish about it. two minutes of this 30-minute sex tape on their website. And this Gawker article blows up, getting over 5 million page views. And now the whole world has access to a piece of Terry's non-consensual sex tape. Imagine what a nightmare that would be. You just wake up one day and the whole world has access to your private smash tape, your family, your friends, your boss, anyone at any time could tune in and see that intimate side of you. Ugh. And of course, poor Terry, he's shocked and he's hurt,

and he had no idea that his friends were secretly filming him. And of course, he feels violated. He has every right to feel that way. So he goes and he gets a lawyer. And this lawyer reaches out to Gawker and they ask them to take the video down. And Gawker, they're like, nah, bro. And this is a huge mistake,

because keep in mind, throughout this whole story, Gawker could have just taken it down and this dispute may have gone away. But that's not what they do. They leave the video up and they argue that Hulk Hogan's a public figure and that his sex tape is actually newsworthy and therefore publishing the tape on their website is protected by the First Amendment. While Terry on the other hand, he argues that's bullshit and that this violates his privacy. So then Terry, I guess, has no other choice and he filed. a lawsuit against Bubba and his wife and he also files another lawsuit against Gawker and he sues Gawker for a hundred million dollars in damages. Here's the thing about lawsuits though. They're expensive like really expensive even for guys like Terry especially because allegedly Terry's ex-wife took 70% of their joint assets in their divorce. So the last thing Terry wants to do is spend millions of dollars in legal fees, trying to take a company like Gawker down.

And that is when this guy steps in, Peter Teal. And Peter Teal, he's a gay conservative billionaire. And Peter Teal was also in the closet for a long time. Because, you know, when you're conservative, being gay doesn't always go over well with your fellow conservatives. So he stayed in the closet. And years before Gawker published Terry's smash tape, Gawker had published some articles about Peter Teal and they had publicly outed him as gay. And they put out some other articles, making fun of him, and stuff like that.

And this, of course, really pisses Peter Thiel off. But like, yeah, you shouldn't just out people before they're ready. It's wrong. So he has every right to be mad. And unfortunately, for Peter Thiel, at the time, there was nothing he could do about it, because, you know, free speech and stuff. So Peter Thiel has hated Gawker ever since then, and taking the site down has become a personal goal of his. And this billionaire is willing to spend a lot of

money to make that happen. Bro is just petty like that. So he learns about Terry's lawsuit, and he has his lawyers reach out to Terry's, and this billionaire starts secretly paying Terry's legal bills and bankrolling this gawker smash tape lawsuit. But then, at some point, kabboom! Another bomb drops, and a few more bits from the secret smash tapes make their way onto the internet. And And these ones are arguably much worse for Terry, because they're not just of him smashing. At least one of them is of Terry benting and ranting to Heather one time after they smash, and Terry is there on video complaining about his daughter's boyfriend who happens to be black. And old Terry, he drops the N-word with the hard R several times.

And not only that, he goes on a whole tirade about black people, and it's really bad. Like, shockingly bad. So, WWE hears about this, and they drop his contract, essentially forcing him out. And they remove everything about him from their WWE website, and he ultimately gets booted from the Wrestling Hall of Fame. And Terry has to, like, go out and do an interview and, like, publicly apologize, and it's all embarrassing for him. Are you a racist?

No, I'm not. I'm not a racist. I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it. But anyway, aside from that, after three years in court, the trial of Terry versus Gawker finally concludes. And ultimately, the jury agrees with Terry.

And they award him $140 million in damages, which is more than he originally sued for. And a few months later, due to this lawsuit, Gawker officially files for bankruptcy and they shut down. And after filing for bankruptcy, I believe they ended up settling and paying Terry. $31 million of the money they owed him. So in the end, they leaked his sex tape and his racism, and he got $31 million for it. So shout out to Florida, I guess.