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90 S. Cal. L. Rev. Postscript 101 (2016-2017)

handle is hein.journals/pstscrpt90 and id is 1 raw text is: SEX, VIDEOS, AND INSURANCE: HOW GAWKER COULD HAVE AVOIDED FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE $140 MILLION HULK HOGAN SEX TAPE VERDICT BY: CHRISTOPHER C. FRENCH* INTRODUCTION On March 18, 2016, and March 22, 2016, a jury awarded Terry Bollea (a.k.a Hulk Hogan) a total of $140 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Gawker Media for posting less than two minutes of a video of Hulk Hogan having sex with his best friend's wife.' The award was based upon a finding that Gawker intentionally had invaded Hulk Hogan's privacy by posting the video online.2 The case has been receiving extensive media coverage because it is a tawdry tale involving a celebrity, betrayal, adultery, sex, and the First Amendment. The story would be better if all of the characters in the story were not, at best, anti-heroes. Hulk Hogan had sex with his best friend's wife. Hulk Hogan's sex partner committed adultery. Hulk Hogan's best friend, the cuckold, allegedly was the person who videotaped the encounter and then leaked it to Gawker.3 And, after sleeping with his best friend's wife, Hulk Hogan had the audacity to sue the cuckold for allegedly leaking the sex tape to Gawker, with the cuckold settling that claim by paying Hulk * Christopher C. French is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Penn State Law School; J.D., Harvard Law School; B.A., Columbia University 1. Steven Perlberg, $25 Million More for Hulk, WALL ST. J., March 22, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hulk-hogan-awarded-additional-25-million-in-gawker-case-1458598102. See Fabio Bertoni, The Stakes in Hulk Hogan's Gawker Lawsuit, NEW YORKER, March 23, 2016, http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-stakes-in-hulk-hogans-gawker-lawsuit. 2. Perlberg, supra note 1. 3. See id. 101

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