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Gawker Privacy Lawsuit Evolves Into Battle Of Tech Billionaires

Gawker Privacy Lawsuit Evolves Into Battle Of Tech Billionaires

Billionaire media owner Pierre Omidyar is backing news and entertainment web site Gawker Media in its lawsuit against wrestler Hulk Hogan, adding a new twist to a case pitting technology money against press freedom.

Omidyar, owner of The Intercept publisher First Look Media, is asking other media outlets to file legal briefs in support of Gawker, First Look said in a statement on Friday. First Look said its goal was to protect constitutional rights.

“The possibility that Gawker may have to post a bond for $50 million or more just to be able to pursue its right to appeal the jury’s verdict raises serious concerns about press freedom,” said Lynn Oberlander, general counsel at First Look, in a statement.

Gawker is battling an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought by Hogan, who won a $140 million judgment against it – enough to cripple the company, which this week said it was exploring financial options. In 2012, Gawker had published a sex tape of Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea.

The saga has become a lightning rod for debate about the role of money in the legal system and civic affairs.

Omidyar, who made a fortune co-founding online auction site eBay , would support Gawker in its legal fight financially as well as via the court briefs, a person familiar with the situation said. But Omidyar has no interest in buying a stake in Gawker itself, the person said. Gawker said in a statement it welcomed the support from First Look, but did not provide details.

Media outlets including Dow Jones, the New York Times Co and Turner Broadcasting did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether First Look had approached them. A previous motion to intervene in the case was supported by several news outlets, First Look said, including Turner’s Cable News Network and the Associated Press.

Earlier this week, Peter Thiel, an early backer of Facebook and a co-founder of PayPal , acknowledged that he had played a lead role in financing Bollea’s litigation.

Gawker posted a 2007 article about Thiel entitled, “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”

Omidyar, a long-time liberal, said on Twitter his actions were not personal. Thiel is backing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump for U.S. president.

“Also, I’ve never met Peter, respect his work as VC, and obv disagree on Trump and press, there is no ‘bad blood.'” he wrote in response to a Twitter comment.

A spokesman for Thiel declined to comment on Omidyar’s backing of Gawker.

Many in Silicon Valley rushed to Thiel’s defense once news broke of his support of Hogan.

“Click bait journalists need to be taught lessons. Far less ethics and more click chasing in press today. I’m for #theil,” tweeted another prominent venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla, on Thursday.

Khosla is fighting his own legal battle over whether the public may access the beach on property he owns in San Mateo County, California.

Thiel has donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which advocates for journalists who encounter beatings, threats, and other intimidation.

The New York Post first reported the news of Omidyar’s latest push to support Gawker.

Reporting by Sarah McBride and Joseph Menn; Editing by Bernard Orr

Photo: Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley investor who co-founded PayPal, talks to students during his  visit to the 42 school campus in Paris, France, February 24, 2016.   REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen/File Photo

In Hulk And Trump Scandals, The Girls Do Have Names

In Hulk And Trump Scandals, The Girls Do Have Names

If you’ve been following Hulk Hogan’s successful suit against Gawker or Donald Trump’s rumble with a gossip writer, you may have come across some missing people. Both stories lean on “love” triangles in which one of the sides, the woman, is of so little consequence she’s rarely even named.

The men may act with warped motives, but they star in their sordid dramas. By contrast, the women are virtually inanimate objects. They are unthinking hockey pucks being passed among boys to score points against other boys. Doesn’t the alleged source of discord rate at least an honorable mention — or dishonorable one? We’ll take either.

In the Hogan case, Gawker posted a secretly recorded video of the wrestler having sex with the wife of a friend. It was a setup by the friend, a radio personality named Bubba the Love Sponge. A jury awarded Hogan $115 million in damages for the violation of his privacy.

In the course of the reportage, we learn Hulk’s real name, Terry Bollea. We are told that Bubba’s name at birth was Todd Alan Clem. As for Mrs. Love Sponge, much of the commentary leaves her name out altogether. It is Heather Clem, for the record.

It happens that Heather was a real player here, in cahoots with her (now estranged) husband to cash in on Hogan’s public humiliation. She wasn’t tricked into playing the co-starring role in the racy video. So give her credit — for something.

In Trump world, women get passed around like canapes at a cocktail party. When the woman has an incensed male partner, the coverage of the conflict portrays the men as giant elk locking horns in Rocky Mountain National Park. As for the woman they’re allegedly fighting over, she could have moved to Antarctica for all anyone seems to care.

The case of Trump vs. gossip writer A.J. Benza is a notable example. While Benza was on a radio show, Trump called in to announce: “I’ve been successful with your girlfriend. … While you were getting onto the plane to go to California thinking she was your girlfriend, she was someplace that you wouldn’t have been very happy with.”

Benza retaliated with “I can’t wait till your little daughter gets a little older for me.” It was on that level.

Who was the girlfriend? I Googled so that you don’t have to. She’s a model named Kara Young.

Trump did not abduct Young. She joined him of her own volition. And lest you, gentle readers, think we’re being judgmental, let us opine that it would take a sturdy woman to pair with the likes of Benza.

So she, too, should rank as an active player here deserving pity, condemnation or congratulations — but definitely recognition.

In the Italian operatic tradition, Young would have been strangled by now. But then again, the woman doesn’t matter here. Benza had eyes only for Trump’s throat. He went so far as to enlist his cheating partner in his counterattacks, saying Young told him that Trump wears hair plugs. Aha, so The Donald isn’t the hairy beast he pretends to be.

Trump’s bragging of sexual conquests reeks of insecurity and desperation. His attacks on women’s appearance are more pathetic than insulting. I swear, I almost feel sorry for him.

But I don’t feel very sorry for the men he mortifies. They chose Trump girls.

There are good women out there. There are party girls who don’t care. And there are bad women as most of us would define “bad.” Point is, when they are part of the story, they should all be put in it.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

Photo: Terry Bollea, known as professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, testifies in his case against the news website Gawker in St. Petersburg, Florida March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Boyzell Hosey/Pool