Hulk Hogan’s sex tape scandal and Gawker trial explain it all

Hulk Hogan was a character in a story much bigger than himself.

That was true in professional wrestling, as he rose to prominence as the WWF’s ultimate babyface. A larger-than-life bastion of American pride and doing things the right way, he spent the 1980s fighting off a never-ending onslaught of villains, traitors, and would-be usurpers, often to great success. He changed the story in the 1990s, turning heel and teaching a new generation how institutions become infected, crumble, and eventually go away.

That was also true in real life, as Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, broke kayfabe and turned his personal life into public fodder in the form of reality television, and later, scandal. He eventually inserted himself into the shifting narratives of American politics, remaking his pro-American identity into something different—and uglier. As his personal beliefs broke containment, they seeped into both the wrestling and real worlds, simultaneously damaging the perception of his character.

Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea died Thursday at the age of 71. In true pro wrestler fashion, it felt like the culmination of a recent story angle, as rumors of his declining health had been reported and refuted several times in recent weeks.

There is another storyline, however, that Bollea helped create that continues to live on. It’s the storyline of America’s modern media landscape. One where the most powerful people in the country use their financial leverage to check media companies. One where billionaires openly attempt to bend media institutions to their will and whims. One where it’s impossible to trust what you’re seeing on the internet and whether or not the people involved even know they’re going viral.

We’re not drawing a direct line from Hulk Hogan’s sex tape scandal and the subsequent legal case that ended Gawker Media to everything that’s happening in American media in 2025. But much like Hulk Hogan’s “24-inch pythons” in his prime, you can see the connective tissue and sinews that form the building blocks of what was to come.

It was the halcyon days of 2006 (or maybe 2007) when Bollea was videotaped while having sex with Heather Clem, wife of Todd “Bubba the Love Sponge” Clem. While he fully admits the encounter was consensual, he claims that the videotaping was done without his consent. So when a two-minute portion of the 30-minute video showed up on Gawker in 2012, Hogan appeared to have no say in the matter.

These days, if you spend just a few minutes scrolling TikTok, you’re likely to come across a dozen videos of people being filmed without their knowledge or consent and shared with the masses, and we don’t even bat an eye. There were plenty of viral videos that lacked consent before Bollea’s, but given the context, it spoke to just how much the cat was out of the bag, and we’ll likely never be able to put it back in.

As for Bollea’s case against Gawker, it likely never would have happened if not for billionaire Peter Thiel, who spent millions bankrolling various lawsuits against the company, including this one. After Gawker published an article in 2007 outing him as gay, Thiel had seemingly made it his mission to put them out of business. And so he did, with a jury delivering a verdict in Bollea’s favor, awarding him $115 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. Unable to pay the judgment, Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and put itself up for sale (the case was eventually settled for $31 million).

While iconic sports site Deadspin was unrelated to the Bollea post, it found itself included in that sale, which then led to the infamous mass resignations when new owner G/O Media fired deputy editor Barry Petchesky and attempted to install a “stick to sports” mandate. Today, Deadspin still exists, but only in name.

As for the verdict, some supported it, saying that it was a message to media companies about the bounds of what can be reported. Others saw the judgment as having a chilling effect on journalism, sending the message that if you exert enough money or power, you can control what is deemed newsworthy, especially when it comes to reporting about yourself.

That last part certainly sounds familiar, no?

Over the years, while Bollea continued to be a character in service of other people’s stories in the real world, he attempted to recapture his place in the pro wrestling industry that made him famous. However, as his real-world persona began to seep into the pro-wrestling world, that became increasingly difficult to do.

Bollea gave over his character to very powerful people, such as Thiel and Donald Trump, who used him as they needed to advance their own storylines. Today, Thiel is one of the financial and spiritual architects of modern conservatism and once wrote that he can “no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” (as well as a major backer for Vice President JD Vance). Trump, meanwhile, is seemingly on a crusade to punish and control any media company that he feels has wronged him or could potentially report honestly about him.

What these men do with their power is not Terry Bollea’s fault, but he played his part all the same.

Watching Hulk Hogan get booed out of a building filled with 18k people restored my faith in humanity 😭 #WWERAW #RawOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/f8qBP7uILt

— Public Enemies Podcast (@PublicEnemiesHQ) January 7, 2025

In what would be his final appearance in WWE, Hulk Hogan was roundly booed by a stadium full of wrestling fans. Not because he was playing heel. Not because of a character arc. But because he had finally brought his two storylines together: pro wrestling and the real world. And not even nostalgia could save him this time.