The Hulh Hogan sex tape trial began Monday morning with opening statements from the former wrestling star’s legal team. Lawyer Shane Vogt painted Bollea as an unsuspecting victim of a needless violation of his privacy.
At issue is a sex tape released on Gawker.com in 2012 that showed Bollea having sex with Heather Clem who was married at the time to shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Bollea is suing Gawker for $100 million as a result of publishing an excerpt of the video.
Vogt claimed during opening statements the tape remained available on Gawker’s website for six months despite efforts by Bollea’s personal attorney to remove it.
“For those six months this man stood there naked and exposed to the world. Over the course of that six months there were five million people that visited that website. Over 2.5 million people watched this video,” Vogt said to the jury. “As it spread virally … it began popping up on sights like these … Hard Sex , Deviant Clip, Slut. Because of their conscious decision … this is where he ended up … without his knowledge and without his consent.”
Vogt put particular emphasis on the term “naked and exposed” throughout his one-hour opening statement. And he took pains to portray Bollea as a sympathetic victim rather than a sexual deviant who had sex with his best friend’s wife.
Vogt said Bollea will later testify that he did agree to have sex with Clem, but that he never agreed to be videotaped. In the video Bollea even asks if the act is being taped to which Todd Clem responds with not just no, but outrage over the question.
The plaintiffs described Bollea’s rise to fame. He grew up in a low-income household with dreams of playing baseball that were dashed after he broke his arm. Vogt described Bollea’s love of wrestling that left him struggling financially trying to make it before finally getting a big break.
Bollea was the star of a 2007 reality show called “Hogan Knows Best” in which Bollea is depicted as a dedicated stage dad helping his daughter, Brooke, try to make it as a pop star. He explains that the reality show should not be used as an indicator of Bollea’s willingness to waive any of his rights to privacy.
“It was controlled,” Vogt explained of the show noting that Bollea called the shots and the show “wasn’t real reality.”
He then goes on the describe Bollea as a broken down man after his wife left him in 2007. It was then that he caved to repeated attempts by the Clem’s to have sex with Heather.
Vogt said Bollea had no idea he was being recorded. Attorneys showed the jury a blown up image of the location of the camera used to tape the incident. An “X” marked the spot in a corner above a cabinet where the camera hung discreetly.
Gawker has argued, and is expected to continue to argue, that posting the tape was protected under the First Amendment because it was of public news interest. Bollea has openly discussed his sex life in the past opening the tape as fair game.
However, Bollea’s legal team contends the act does not meet the threshold for protection.
“This wasn’t a story about political corruption,” Vogt said. “It wasn’t a story about a mayor smoking crack; it wasn’t a story about Lance Armstrong breaking the rules.”
The jury, convened last week, consists of mostly women. The nine-member jury has just three men and only one African-American.
The plaintiffs said they won’t be playing the sex tape during jury proceedings. However, jurors are able to view the video in another room if they wish.
