Gawker founder Nick Denton has slammed the verdict of a Florida court which awarded former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan – real name Terry Bollea – $140m in damages for Gawker’s publication of his sex tape.
In an email to “friends and observers of Gawker”, Denton wrote that it was “a relief to be able to speak freely”.
“We’ll win this case when we get back to the appeals court,” he continued, adding that the original story “may not be your cup of tea”, but that “the outlandishness of the verdict does draw further attention of the media and the appeals court to the dangerous precedent that risks being set”.
Denton also published a defiant article on Tuesday in which he called the verdict “extraordinary” and predicted that it would be overturned on appeal.
“The enormous size of the verdict is chilling to Gawker Media and other publishers with a tabloid streak, but it is also a flag to higher courts that this case went wildly off the rails,” Denton wrote. “Emotion was permitted to trump the law.”
He defended the site against other journalists’ disapproval of the content of the video, but took a defiant tone in defending his organisation’s right to free speech under the first amendment.
Denton also took a bullish stance on his chances of having the verdict overturned by an appeals court. “A state appeals court and a federal judge have already held repeatedly that the 2012 commentary and short video excerpt, which joined an existing conversation and explored the public’s fascination with celebrity sex tapes, were newsworthy,” he said.
“We have had our day in trial court, and we lost. We will have our day back in appeals court, and we will be vindicated.”
