Wrestler Hulk Hogan, real name Terry Gene Bollea, has been fired by World Wrestling Entertainment after a leaked audio tape from 2007 captured him using racial slurs and making derogatory comments about his daughter dating a black man. The tape, which was part of a sealed court record, features Hogan saying, “I am a racist, to a point, f**king n****rs.” Hogan has since described his remarks as “offensive” and “unacceptable.”
The controversy is intertwined with a $100m libel lawsuit Hogan filed against gossip website Gawker after it published a video of him having sex with the wife of his best friend, DJ Bubba the Love Sponge. The audio tape of Hogan’s rant was leaked from the court-sealed evidence, and legal analysts suggest it could bolster Gawker’s defence that the video was in the public interest.
Hogan’s lawyer has vowed to “bury” Gawker if it is found responsible for the leak. Meanwhile, Gawker owner Nick Denton is facing his own crisis after the site published and then removed a story outing a married publishing executive as having a relationship with a gay prostitute. Denton issued an apology and disowned the practice of outing, which has previously targeted CNN’s Anderson Cooper and NFL star Michael Sam.
Denton, a former Financial Times journalist who is openly gay and married, has reportedly changed his views on the obligation of gay public figures to come out. He responded to inquiries about Gawker’s editorial policies by saying, “Superseded by Hogan.” The controversy has cost Gawker up to $20m in annual revenue, and media observers question whether the site can afford a potential $100m payout to Hogan.
