In October 2012, a two-minute excerpt from a six-year-old sex tape featuring Terry Gene Bollea, professionally known as Hulk Hogan, and Heather Clem, wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, was published on the celebrity gossip site Gawker. The clip featured only 10 seconds of explicit sexual material, but the aftermath of its publication would reverberate for years to come, forever changing the rules of the internet and the boundaries of free speech. This is the oral history of Gawker’s Hulk Hogan sex tape controversy.
Part 1: How it All Started
A.J. Daulerio (Former editor-in-chief, Gawker): In May of 2012, I received an envelope in the mail with no return address. Inside was a sheet of paper with the word “WINDMILL” written on it in purple marker and nothing else. I walked to the nearest windmill and there was a cow inside. Strangled to death. I sat there for a while trying to figure out who could be strong enough to strangle a cow, because their throats are very hard to squish. The only guy who came to mind was Hulk Hogan, the strongest and blondest man on earth. Clearly this was meant to be a clue, but what did it mean?
Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (Radio personality, husband of Heather Clem): I was trying to tip off Gawker that I had a sex tape of my wife and the Hulkster getting it, but I didn’t want them to know the tape was coming from me. So I taped it to the wall in a Burger King behind a framed photo of some onion rings and left a trail of clues involving windmills and cows.
A.J. Daulerio: Later that day I was coincidentally stealing a framed poster of onion rings from a local Burger King to decorate my condo and a DVD-R disc fell out from behind it. Written in Sharpie on the disc were the words “TRUE LOVE.” I was immediately intrigued. So I went back to my condo, hung the onion rings artwork over my fireplace, and popped the disc in.
Leonard Maltin (Film critic): Prior to the Hulk Hogan sex tape, celebrity sex tapes had been crude, grainy, barely arousing affairs that really just made you feel ashamed for even watching them. Honestly, my own sex tapes were better produced than the sex tapes these wealthy celebrities were making. But the Hogan tape redefined what a sex tape could be. It was shot on 70mm film stock with a multi-million-dollar budget, and every dollar spent ended up on the screen.
A.J. Daulerio: So I pop in the video and the first thing I see is a gorgeous helicopter shot of the Grand Canyon. The camera swoops down and reveals a nude Hulk Hogan, his penis erect, bathing underneath a waterfall.
Heather Clem (Hogan’s partner on the tape): The Hulkster’s nipples were extra long at the time we shot the sex tape, so we wanted to make sure it was really special. We didn’t want this to be some sleazy blowjob video. We wanted to really capture the eroticism and intimacy of a man in his 50s with a mondo veined-up cock and a stomach filled with tacos loving a disc jockey’s wife. There was only one place on earth where we thought it was romantic enough to shoot it: the Grand Canyon.
Leonard Maltin: It’s hard to tell if the dialog is scripted or improvised because it is so well acted. Hulk’s opening line still gives me goosebumps to this day: “This waterfall feels great on my bank-deposit-canister-sized penis. I can’t imagine anything feeling better than this. Oh wow…look over there, it’s a vagina….”
Heather Clem: The basic plot is that the Hulkster is a simple man who travels the world sticking his dick into waterfalls and then realizes that there is something even more beautiful than waterfalls that he can fuck: a woman’s vagina. It’s based on Pablo Neruda’s poem The Waterfall Fucker, which actually mentions the Hulkster by name despite being written 30 years before he was even born. It’s a portrait of this poor, innocent, lonely Hulk Hogan of a man who has a gigantic boner but no idea where to put it.
A.J. Daulerio: The film that I was witnessing transcended any art I had seen up until that point in my life. Even the onion rings print. I knew I had to show it to the world. The very next day, I uploaded it to the front page of Gawker.
Part 2: The Shitshow Begins
Brian Knobbs (Pro wrestler, Hulk’s best friend): So I fire up my Acer one morning and hop onto Gawker. The first thing I see is this beautiful banner ad for Purina Cat Chow. I mean, they’ve got a couple of Persians on there, it’s animated, playing a little midi music, excellent font choices…just gorgeous work. I don’t even have cats, but I’m thinking, “Okay, you got me, I’ll buy some of this cat chow.” Then, right underneath, I see a screen-cap of my best friend sticking his housecat-sized dick into a waterfall.
Bethany Smyth (Gawker reader): Up until the Hogan tape, most leaked celebrity sex tapes were of female celebs, so when I saw that Gawker had finally published something for the ladies, I was wet in places I didn’t even know I had. Not only is the man gorgeous, but he was clearly very full during the scene, and I love a man who chows down right before doing the nasty. Every vein in his body bulged like bratwurst beneath his skin as he slammed that waterfall. He was roaring and clapping like a drunk, mighty ape. I’d never seen anything like it.
A.J. Daulerio: Immediately, Gawker starts getting flooded with messages from people saying, “Thank you. This video saved my marriage,” or, “The Hogan sex tape reaffirmed my belief in true love.” The internet can be such a toxic, negative place that it was refreshing to be hosting something that was spreading so much joy.
Leonard Maltin: While there are only 10 seconds of actual sex on the version of the tape that Gawker posted, it contains a lifetime of erotic treasure. This isn’t a pornographic film about genitals penetrating genitals. This is a masterpiece about the quivering lips of a 50-something giant of a man porking the shit out of a waterfall and some lady. About the flabby pecs of a once-chiseled wrestler pushing up against the augmented breasts of a shock jock’s wife. About human sexuality in its purest, veiniest, most potent form. It is pure beauty.
Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Gene Bollea, pro wrestler): Imagine discovering that the most intimate, special, private, erotic, life-affirming, gooey, transcendent moment of your life was suddenly on a website called Gawker. My double-uncircumcised cock was out there for everyone to see. This was a sacred moment between two people who loved one another and radio DJs very much. I had suspicions that the encounter was being filmed because there was a crew of 60+ people surrounding us while we fucked with all sorts of cameras and stuff, but Bubba had assured me they were just filming a rare type of moss that grows near waterfalls. I was devastated. I immediately called Purina customer service and told them that Hulk Hogan would not be supporting their chow anymore.
Part 3: The Shot Heard ‘Round the Internet
A.J. Daulerio: At this time, the internet was still the Wild West. We assumed nothing bad could ever happen online. Our website’s motto was, “We do things, and nothing will ever happen because of them.” We had no idea of the pain to come.
Charles Harder (Lawyer for Hulk Hogan): Look, I jacked off to the Hulkster’s sex tape on Gawker just like everyone else did. But that didn’t mean I thought it was okay. The shame, embarrassment, and reputational damage that come from having your personal love life broadcast to millions—no matter how hot it is to watch—are devastating. We never wanted to argue that the Hogan tape wasn’t hot as hell. In fact, in our opening statement we told the jury they would likely be whacking off to the tape dozens of times before the trial’s end. And they did.
Hulk Hogan: Obviously I jerked off to the tape when it was up on Gawker. I mean, my cock looks like a poorly folded Chipotle burrito with all of the fixings spilling out of it in it. It’s fucking hot! When Mrs. Clem yells, “My life’s purpose is to hear our love slaps echoing through the Grand Canyon!” and I respond, “What? I can’t hear you over the waterfall!” it’s honestly the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. But I still wanted to sue the shit out of Gawker.
Elizabeth Spiers (Gawker co-founder): We created Gawker to publish daily updates on Hulk Hogan’s love life. The good, the bad, those quiet moments in between—that was our whole deal. When we started, there wasn’t really anywhere online where you could get that information besides Yahoo! News. The purity of our mission was ultimately our downfall.
Charles Harder: We wanted to go big with this and send a message to these websites that invasion of privacy is not free speech. So we asked for $900.
A.J. Daulerio: They only wanted $900 in damages, but we wanted to show them that we weren’t to be messed with. Free speech was on the line here. So we shot back and offered them $141 million instead.
Charles Harder: Gawker’s lawyers weren’t the greatest negotiators.
A.J. Daulerio: Honestly, I think we may have made a mistake there.
Peter Thiel (Founder, PayPal): I hated Gawker because they only ranked PayPal number 17 on their “20 Funnest Websites to Surf Online” listicle, so I threw my significant financial muscle behind the lawsuit. But apparently it wasn’t needed, because Gawker showed up to court on the very first day with an oversized check made out to Hulk Hogan for $141 million with “We are so sorry!” written in the memo. It was too easy.
Hulk Hogan: As an avid PayPal user and fan, I was thrilled when Peter called me and offered his support in our case. One minute you’re madly in love with a DJ’s wife and fucking her on muleback in the place the Hopi Tribe considers a gateway to the afterlife, the next a man whose electronic payment system you greatly respect is paying your legal bills. Life can be pretty cool sometimes.
A.J. Daulerio: We ended up paying out $141 million dollars for a post that brought in about $60 in cat chow ad money. My website was destroyed, everyone working for me lost their jobs, and I will forever be associated with the biggest blunder in the history of the internet. Sometimes people ask me if it was all worth it, and I tell them, “I got to show millions of people what true love looks like. I got to introduce millions of people to the Grand Canyon. I got to meet the founder of PayPal. I got to see the Hulkster’s absolute lunchbox of a cock. Was it worth it? Damn straight it was worth it.” I didn’t get into internet publishing to make money. I got into it for another reason, which will be my secret until the day I die.
Nancy Dubuk (Former CEO, Vice Media): Before the Gawker scandal, the internet was mostly embarrassing sex tapes that were posted without consent. People could hop online, see what their favorite celebrity’s genitals looked like, masturbate to them, and then leave an insulting comment about those genitals under the video. It was a paradise. The void left after the removal of all of those sex tapes was ultimately filled with the sadness and misery that makes up the majority of the internet today.
Deborah Archer (President, ACLU National): If posting a secretly filmed sex tape of a professional wrestler on your gossip website is no longer protected speech, then what’s next? I’m not really coming up with any examples here, but I’m sure something else will be next. The Hulk Hogan sex tape will always have a home on the front page of the ACLU’s website in defiance of this judgment, which was in complete violation of our constitutional rights and our rights as human beings to whack off to whatever the fuck we want, whenever the fuck we want, privacy be damned.
Hulk Hogan: I love my $141 million dollars. Thank you, Gawker, for violating my privacy.
Heather Clem: In the end, everyone got what they wanted. The Hulkster got $141 million dollars, Peter got to see the website he hated embarrassed, Gawker got to show everyone a magnificent sex tape and ultimately go bankrupt because of it, and I got to see the Grand Canyon. It’s nice when things work out for all involved.
