Hulk Hogan has faced some tough foes in his day; Andre the Giant, the Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker come to mind. Now Hogan is attempting to take on Gawker and their first amendment rights over the website's posting of a sex tape.
Gawker posted a one minute excerpt of a sex tape featuring the former WWF Superstar last October. Hogan's initial efforts to take legal action against Gawker were body slammed by a federal judge who ruled that Gawker's actions were "in conjunction with the news reporting function," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Hogan turned to a Florida court and was granted a temporary restraining order against Gawker by Judge Pamela Campbell last week. In it Gawker is forced to take down the excerpt along with any clips or transcripts of the video.
Gawker responded by removing the video but leaving up the original 1,400 word narrative by AJ Daulerio that accompanied the video, which can be seen here. In addition Gawker added a link to a different website hosting the sex tape.
Gawker also responded with a lengthy post explaining why they refuse to comply with the court order, which can be read here. In it editor John Cook defends his website's choice to post the video.
"We publish all manner of stories here. Some are serious, some are frivolous some are dumb," Cook said. "The constitution does unambiguously accord us the right to publish true things about public figures."
Cook is willing to accept Judge Campbell ordering the removal of Hogan's sex tape but removing Daulerio's description of the tape was a step Cook wasn't willing to take.
"A lawful order from a circuit court judges is a serious thing. While we vehemently disagree with Campbell's order with respect to the video itself, we have chosen to take it down pending our appeal," Cook writes. "But the portion of the order compelling us to remove the entirety of Daulerio's post - his words, his speech - is grossly unconstitutional. We won't take it down."
Everyone knows that Hulk Hogan can rarely be defeated in the ring. Soon we'll see what happens when Hulkamania tries to run wild over the U.S. Judicial system.
