In March, former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan was awarded $115 million — with an extra $25.1 million in punitive damages — by a Florida jury in a civil case against Gawker Media. Four years ago, the website published a tape of Hogan engaging in intercourse with Heather Clem, the ex-wife of his former best friend. As Hogan would testify in court, he was not aware the encounter was being recorded. Since the post went live in 2012, it has been viewed 7.5 million times.
Hogan, however, was reportedly not alone in bringing suit against Gawker. According to the New York Times, the case was being privately funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel [left], who was outed by Valleywag — Gawker’s Silicon Valley-centric blog — in a 2007 post.
Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and the co-founder of PayPal, has since become a vocal critic of Valleywag, which he has called “the Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda.” Thiel told PEHub in 2009, “I think they should be described as terrorists, not as writers or reporters.” He would come out publicly three years after the original story was published.
Thiel, a libertarian who has supported Ted Cruz and has pledged to back Donald Trump as one of California’s appointed delegates, has long been a vocal advocate for the freedom of the press. Thiel is behind the Committee for Protection of Journalists, which bills itself as “an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the global defense of press freedom.”
The Advocate.
'A vocal advocate for the freedom of the press.'
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