The former Gawker editor who published the sex tape of celebrity wrestler Hulk Hogan, born Terry Bollea, said when he took the stand that the topic was not newsworthy. Gawker is citing U.S. press freedom in attempt to win the lawsuit filed by Hogan.
The editor, identified as A.J. Daulerio, said when the tape was posted on their publication's website in 2012, the story had few limits in using it to drive web traffic. Daulerio is the first defense witness in the civil trial over Hogan's $100 million lawsuit, wherein he claims that the sex tape was a privacy invasion and that he did not have any consent given when it was released, Los Angeles Times reported.
Per the case, it is a battle between the wrestler's right to privacy and the freedom of speech of the publication under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
During a cross-examination with Hogan's attorney, Shane Vogt, Daulerio was asked if he could have just commented on the sex tape rather than having to publish a portion of the video and he answered he could have. Vogt again asked if the former editor did not care if his client will be emotionally distressed upon the release and Daulerio answered, "That's not my job."
The 41-year-old editor added in his statements that his interest in the Hogan story was more on making a commentary about the inoffensive conversation between the wrestler and the wife of his then-best friend, radio "shock jock" personality Bubba the Love Sponge.
The video released by Gawker was an edited version of the original sex tape. Daulerio said that he found the conversations amusing as he grew up watching the wrestler as a dominant figure in the wrestling world. Daulerio noted that the original 30-minute video was trimmed down to only a minute and 40 seconds and that it only featured nine seconds of the actual sex, The Hollywood Reporter shared. He also said that he did not call the wrestler nor considered blurring the video.
Gawker has been arguing that Hogan made his sex life a public matter but the wrestler contested that he did not know there was a recorder in the bedroom and that he is still suffering from humiliation due to the sex tape's release. These statements were made when Hogan took the stand at the trial in St. Petersburg last week.
