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HOGAN VS. GAWKER UPDATES INCLUDING JUDGE SAYING GAWKER IS ON THE HOOK, HOGAN'S SECRET BACKER REVEALED?

By Mike Johnson on 2016-05-25 13:43:00

In the latest twist in the ongoing Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial, Forbes is reporting that Silicon Valley billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has been bankrolling Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker secretly.

 The back story to Thiel's apparent involvment is that a website owned by Gawker attempted to publicly out Thiel as gay several years before he had publicly disclosed his sexuality. So, Thiel is financially assisting Hogan as a way to take out a common enemy in Gawker, which has claimed it would be out of business if they lost a major judgment to Hogan and were forced to pay.

A jury has already ruled that Gawker is on the hook for $140 million to Hogan for publishing snippets of a sex tape that Hogan was not aware was being filmed.  Racially explicit language on one of the tapes that were shot of Hogan led to WWE terminating him in July 2015.

During a hearing today in Tampa, Florida, the judge presiding over the case rejected the Gawker's attempts to have a new trial and refused to reduced the damages already ruled against them.

Hogan filed another lawsuit last month against Gawker, claiming that they leaked the material that led to his WWE firing last summer.

Thanks to everyone who sent along links to the Forbes piece.

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