https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/04/06/americans-overwhelmingly-side-hulk-hogan-not-gawke/
In 2012 Gawker Media published a tape of the then married Hulk Hogan and the estranged wife of one of his friends having sex. The release of the tape caused Hulk Hogan a number of personal and professional problems and he responded by suing Gawker. Earlier in 2016 Hulk Hogan was awarded huge damages, but Gawker Media is now seeking to avoid paying Hulk Hogan the $140 million he was awarded by a jury in Florida by calling for a retrial.
Research from YouGov shows that a large majority of Americans (77%) agree with the jury that it was unacceptable for Gawker to publish the video of Hulk Hogan having sex. Only 7% say that it was acceptable.
More broadly, Americans widely believe that the private sex tapes of people should not be published, including in cases of infidelity. Even when it comes to politicians the vast majority of Americans say that it is unacceptable for media outlets to publish private sex tapes of them cheating on their partner. Only 17% say that it is acceptable to expose a politician in this way, while 9% say it is acceptable to do the same to celebrities and ordinary people caught cheating.
80% of Americans also say that it should be illegal for media outlets to publish tapes like this, with 8% saying it should be legal.
Hulk accuses Gawker chief of hiding millions to avoid payout
http://nypost.com/2016/04/11/hulk-wants-documents-to-prove-gawkers-real-net-worth/
Gawker’s stated net worth of $83 million seems as phony as a WWE bout -- and Hulk Hogan’s lawyers want access to confidential documents to try to prove it, according to court papers.
The gossip site and its owner, Nick Denton, last month were ordered to pay the pro wrestler $140 million for violating his privacy by posting a sex tape involving him and a then-friend’s wife.
But Denton may try to get out of paying a required $50 million bond and the final judgment by lying about his and the company’s worth, the documents charge.
Denton, who is Hungarian and British, appears to have hidden millions of dollars in Gawker profits through inflated licensing fees to a Hungary-based sister company, the documents charge.
“In my opinion, it’s very hypocritical that Mr. Denton continues to cloak himself in the Constitution while it also appears he’s expatriating great sums of money to Eastern Europe, potentially to avoid taxation and creditor issues,” Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston, told The Post.
In a Florida courtroom in March, the jury was told that Gawker is worth only $83 million, while Denton’s net worth is $121 million -- largely based on his shares in Gawker’s parent company, Gawker Media Group Inc.
GMGI is valued at $267 million; Denton has a $117 million portion of it.
Gawker has refused to give up a document called a “transfer pricing study” that would determine whether the fees are inflated, citing lawyer-client privilege, according to court papers.
Gawker has claimed that the $140 million jury award would be “ruinous” to its business, in a bid to get the judge to slash the amount to less than $2 million.
Yet its own pitch book for investors reveals a rosier future: Gawker’s growth plan is to increase its operating income from $6.7 million in 2014 to $43 million in 2019.
Gawker has responded in court papers that a major international law firm, Mayer Brown, “analyzed the appropriate arm’s-length pricing for the royalty payable by Gawker to [subsidiary company] Kinja with respect to the intellectual property.”
