The first day of what is expected to be a three week jury trial looking into whether or not the online media news site Gawker violated the privacy rights of former wrestling star Hulk Hogan wrapped up with the first round of testimony still underway.
Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, spent nearly an hour retelling to jurors details of his youth and young adult life. In an attempt to portray a sympathetic victim, defense attorney Kenneth Turkel about his modest upbringing in a low-income neighborhood in Tampa, his success as a young baseball player and injury that shattered his dreams, an early adulthood filled with poverty and his rise to fame as a pro-wrestler.
The seemingly irrelevant biography of Bollea’s life was clearly an attempt to soften the giant of a man’s image before getting into the brass taxes – a sordid affair between Bollea and Heather Clem, the then wife of Bollea’s former best friend, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
By the time Turkel got to the issue Bollea is suing Gawker for $100 million over, Bollea looked like an unlikely victim of bullying.
He explained under oath that he had been repeatedly propositioned for sex by both Clem husband and wife and repeatedly saying, “no” noting that it was “weird.” For a while, Bollea said he thought the propositions were a joke.
Then he went on to explain a life in turmoil. Bollea said he suggested his family agreeing to film “Hogan Knows Best,” a reality show chronicling Bollea’s family and his status as a wrestler-turned-stage dad. He said he did so in hopes that it would somehow rekindle his marriage.
But it didn’t work. By the final season of the series in 2007, Linda Hogan, Bollea’s ex-wife, had moved out of their Florida home to California. She showed up for filming that season two weeks late and left early.
Bollea said the turmoil left him in “a dark place.” He said he called Bubba Clem crying and was invited over. It was then Bollea described being led back to the couple’s room by Heather Clem. Once there, Bollea said Bubba tossed him a condom and gave his blessing to have sex with his wife.
But Bollea insists he had no idea there was a camera filming the incident, a fact that is at the center of debate as to whether or not the former wrestling star deserves a hefty payout from Gawker.
Their team claims Bollea’s sex tape was a matter of news and protected under the First Amendment. During opening statements lawyers paved the way for evidence to support that argument including two books written by Bollea, one written by his wife and several media appearances in which Bollea openly discusses his sex life.
But the team also seems to be forging forward with another argument. In a terse back and forth between Bollea and Turkel, Turkel presses Bollea on whether or not he knew there were cameras in the room. During the video posted on Gawker, Bollea can be heard asking Bubba Clem whether or not he’s “recording this.”
“Why would I ask that if I knew there were cameras,” Bollea asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Turkel rhetorically asked if Bollea was concerned there might be. Bollea explained he knew there were cameras in the house, but not the bedroom and just had “a gut feeling.”
Several contributions also came to light during the first day of proceedings. Bollea said on the stand he had never seen the sex tape in question. But in several clips from October, 2012 – the same day Bollea received word the video had been leaked – he made statements to the contrary.
In one interview he said he video made him sick.
“I don’t understand why I said that because I haven’t seen a minute of the tape,” Bollea said.
He blamed being in “Hulk Hogan mode” saying he was “just trying to get through the day trying to figure out what’s going on.”
“Today in court we heard Terry Bollea state that he’s in character as ‘Hulk Hogan’ virtually 24 hours a day (whenever he’s not home is the way he put it) — also acknowledging that as “Hulk Hogan” he regularly takes ‘artistic license’ and does not tell the truth,” Gawker media wrote in a statement.
Turkel did not finish his examination. Bollea will resume the stand Tuesday morning at 9:15 a.m. at the Pinellas County Courthouse in downtown St. Pete. The entire trial is expected to last three weeks.
