Hulk Hogan reaches $31m settlement with Gawker
Hulk Hogan has reached a $31 million settlement with Gawker.
The 63-year-old wrestler will receive the sum from the news outlet on top of the $140 million he was already awarded after the website posted a sex tape, which was taken in 2006, of him and Bubba The Love Sponge’s then-wife Heather Clem, the New York Times reports.
In a blog post on his website, Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, wrote: "After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached. The saga is over. As the most unpalatable part of the deal, three true stories – about Hulk Hogan, the claim by Shiva Ayyadurai that he invented email and the feud between the founders of Tinder – are being removed from the web.
"Yes, we were confident the appeals court would reduce or eliminate the runaway Florida judgment against Gawker, the writer of the Hogan story and myself personally. And we expected to prevail in those other two lawsuits by clients of Charles Harder, the lawyer backed by Peter Thiel.
"But all-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight … That motivated a settlement that allows us all to move on, and focus on activities more productive than endless litigation. Life is short, for most of us."
Whilst David Houston, a lawyer for Mr. Hogan, added: "As with any negotiation for resolution, all parties have agreed it is time to move on."
Hulk was previously in receipt of $140 million from Gawker after a court found they had invaded the wrestler’s privacy by publishing the video online.
