Wednesday, 9 March 2016

I Do Not Have A 10-inch Penis - Hulk Hogan

The fight between Hulk Hogan and the Gawker website returned to a Florida courtroom on Tuesday, where the former star wrestler faced questions from lawyers for the media company that he seeks to punish for releasing a secretly recorded sex tape.

Hogan also got to talking about the size of his manhood in a bizarre line of questioning during his cross examination by Gawker attorneys.

A radio interview was played in which he seemed to suggest his penis was 10 inches.

When asked if he had been discussing his penis in that interview, Hogan said; 'Well, it’s not mine, because mine is not the size we’re discussing.'

He was then pressed further by the lawyer, at which point he said; 'No, seriously. I do not have a 10-inch penis.'

Hogan explained his comments in the radio show by saying he was playing the Hulk Hogan character, and was not speaking as his actual self, Terry Bollea.

'Because Terry Bollea’s penis is not 10 inches, like you’re trying to say,' said Hogan.

Hogan, who is seeking $100 million in damages for invasion of his privacy, also testified that he exaggerated about his sex life in an interview as part of his over-the-top wrestling persona.

But Gawker's lawyers have contended he made his sex life a public matter, including the interview.


A six-person jury is hearing the suit against Gawker for publishing an edited one-minute, 41-second sex clip in a case that will test the boundaries between celebrity privacy rights and press freedoms.

Hogan, 62, who is using his legal name of Bollea in court, was cross-examined by Gawker attorneys a day after testifying to his humiliation over the 2012 video posting.

'I am not the same person I was before all this craziness happened,' testified Hogan Tuesday, who was one of the wrestling world's biggest attractions in the 1980s and '90s.

The video was posted on Gawker in 2012, about five years after it was recorded.

It was made without his knowledge, Hogan said, and its revelation showed his betrayal by a trusted friend.

Hogan said on Tuesday that regardless of his celebrity, Gawker crossed a line when it posted the video.

'My problem is this whole videotape that you guys put out that lives forever,' a weary-looking Hogan, wearing a signature black bandanna, said under cross-examination.

'It will be there forever on the Internet.'

Gawker lawyers explored the distinction he draws between his remarks in character as Hogan and his true identity. He had explained earlier that he considers himself to have artistic liberty as an entertainer when appearing as Hogan.

He told Gawker lawyers that he had exaggerated about the number of women he slept with during a wild period following a divorce in an interview with the celebrity news outlet TMZ as rumors of the sex tape emerged.

'It was Hulk Hogan and I was just embellishing,' he said, on the witness stand in a signature black bandana, a matching suit and an oversized cross necklace.

The Gawker video showed a consensual sexual encounter between Hogan and the wife of his then best friend, radio 'shock jock' Bubba the Love Sponge. Attorneys for Gawker said the footage was provided to them but they did not know exactly where it came from.

Hogan, a longtime champion of World Wrestling Entertainment, told jurors that he was not aware the encounter was being recorded in a private bedroom at Bubba's house, where he considered himself safe among friends.

The civil trial in St. Petersburg, Florida, near Hogan's home, could last three weeks.

Gawker sees its 2012 post as protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and contends it was reporting on a celebrity who publicly discussed his sex life.

Gawker's founder, Nick Denton, sat in the front row on the first day of a civil trial in St. Petersburg, located in the county where Hogan lives, along with a former editor involved, A.J. Daulerio.

'Gawker believes this kind of reporting is important,' an attorney for the company, Mike Berry told jurors, explaining that celebrity sex tapes are among the 'uncomfortable' topics important to the outlet, known for gossip and media reporting.

A loss could put Gawker out of business, though the website will appeal an unfavorable verdict, another of its attorneys said.

The wrestler said the incident occurred at a low-point as his marriage was ending, in a home where he had let down his guard.

Both sides claimed success after the trial's opening. The wrestler's attorney highlighted his testimony about suffering, and Gawker pointed out the disparities in what he said in character as opposed to his true persona.


Source: Dailymail.co.uk



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