The Hulk Hogan V Gawker sex tape trial has been in preparation for years (Hogan is suing Gawker for $100 million for posting his sex tape online without his consent and Gawker are saying that it was their right to do so under protected speech of the First Amendment – right) and it finally kicked off yesterday.
As you might expect from something known as the Hulk Hogan sex trial, it’s already completely ridiculous and they’ve only just finished the first day. The first problems came about from when they were trying to select a jury, which led to the following absurd observations from the reporters who were live tweeting it.
The main problem came down to the fact that it’s pretty hard to select an unbiased pool of jurors when Hulk Hogan is one of the most recognisable pop culture figures of the past thirty years, but also from the fact that the pool of jurors also seem like complete idiots:
Featured Image VIA
Attorney asks somewhat seriously if anyone was upset when Hogan slammed Andre the Giant or when he became "Hollywood Hogan" #hulkvsgawk
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 3, 2016
Attorney: Do you follow wrestling?
Juror: “Yeah, when it was real back in the day." #hulkvsgawk— Anna Phillips (@annamphillips) March 2, 2016
Juror #5 indicated on her questionnaire that she had info posted online without her consent; husband posted her weight #hulkvsgawk
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 2, 2016
"If I could talk about that word for a moment, it’s a double-edged sword," says white, female juror of the n-word. #hulkvsgawk
— Anna Phillips (@annamphillips) March 2, 2016
"A certain race can say it but another race cannot. It’s just not right that that happens," she says. #hulkvsgawk
— Anna Phillips (@annamphillips) March 2, 2016
Among the 91 remaining in #hoganvsgawk jury pool: man who gets news from the 700 Club, woman who complained that whites can't say the N-word
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 3, 2016
Female juror on Hogan sex tape: "Do I want to look at it? No. Am I willing to, as a citizen? Yes.” #hulkvsgawk
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 3, 2016
So there’s an upstanding citizen there, a possible racist and someone that thinks wrestling used to be real. At least none of them seem to be biased against Hogan for his actions in the ring though. Phew.
The Gawker lawyer then decided to throw almost all credibility for their defence out of the window by saying this in their opening speech (via UpRoxx):
During the defense opening, Gawker lawyer Michael Berry attacked Hogan’s suit as a naked grab for “lots and lots of money,” and contended that company founder Nick Denton had acted with the purest of motives.
Berry noted that Denton’s mom was a Hungarian Jew “who survived the Nazis” before escaping the Soviet occupation and fleeing to England at age 18.
“Mr. Denton grew up with parents who’ve seen first-hand what happens when speech is suppressed,” Berry said.
“He wants the public to have the simple, unvarnished truth … the unvarnished truth about public figures.”
Hmmm. Not sure if comparing releasing a sex tape to the public to the persecution that the Jewish community experienced in Nazi Germany is really the best way to go with this, but I suppose we’ll see how this pans out.
There’s probably going to be another month or so of this so there are sure to be even more stupid incidents that we’ll be sure to let you know about. Although seeing this stuff firsthand might be worth it, I’m glad that Hulk Hogan never carried out his threat to sue us because he’s probably going to win though and we don’t have $100 million to pay him. Phew.
