Hulk Hogan sex video intended to harm, claim his lawyers

A lawyer for Hulk Hogan said editors of the Gawker website intended to harm the former professional wrestler when they posted an excerpt of a secretly recorded video of him engaged in an intimate sex act.

The online gossip site was motivated by power and brand promotion at Hogan’s expense, lawyer Shane Vogt told jurors in Florida at the start of an unusual civil trial weighing a celebrity’s privacy rights.

“They (Gawker) have essentially replaced sticks and stones with clicks and phones,” Vogt said during his opening statement, noting that 2.5m people had viewed the sex-tape clip during the six months it remained online.

Hogan, 62, is seeking $100m (€91m) in damages from Gawker for posting the nearly two-minute video of him having sex with the former wife of his then-best friend, radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge.

Attorneys for the longtime champion of World Wrestling Entertainment and reality TV star say he had a right to expect privacy in a private bedroom and the video was filmed without his knowledge.

Gawker argues its 2012 post is protected free speech under the First Amendment of the US constitution, and contends it was reporting on a celebrity who has publicly discussed his sex life.

Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, sat in the front row of the courtroom along with a former editor involved in the posting, AJ Daurlieo.

“That is a high-stakes proposition, not just for Gawker, who is right now in the crosshairs, but for all of the people who exercise First Amendment rights,” Seth Berlin, an attorney representing Gawker, said ahead of the trial.