Apparently buoyed by a pair of recent legal judgments in his favor totaling $140 million, former wrestler Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, up and sued Gawker again on Monday. Gawker is challenging the result of the original lawsuit over the site’s posting of a sex tape featuring Hogan; the latest suit accuses Gawker of leaking sealed court documents that contained a racist rant by Hogan against his daughter’s boyfriend at the time, who is black.
The National Enquirer published the comments that were part of the sex-tape case against Gawker, and World Wrestling Entertainment promptly severed all ties with Hogan. The suit claims the leak damaged the wrestler’s finances and reputation. Gawker denied leaking the transcript. “This is getting ridiculous,” Gawker wrote in a statement. “Hulk Hogan is a litigious celebrity abusing the court system to control his public image and media coverage. … It’s time for Hulk Hogan to take responsibility for his own words, because the only person who got Hulk Hogan fired from the WWE is Hulk Hogan.”
“The suit in Pinellas County Court also accuses a talent agent, two disc jockeys, a radio company and a lawyer of conspiring to send media outlets the sex tape and causing Hogan emotional distress and economic harm,” according to the Associated Press.
