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Gawker Files For Bankruptcy After Hulk Hogan Lawsuit (usatoday.com)
Gawker has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move comes after the media house was ordered to pay up $140M to Hulk Hogan for publishing his sex tape. Gawker, which is known for its irreverent voice, is currently facing multiple lawsuits, backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, one of the people that Gawker has extensively reported on. USA Today reports: In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Gawker is seeking to reorganize under the bankruptcy protection and there's no indication, as of yet, that it will cease publication. Gawker listed estimated assets of $50 million to $100 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. [...] Thiel's funding triggered concerns about the possibility of First Amendment rights being quashed by wealthy individuals' funding of third-party legal claims against media organizations.According to a separate report, Ziff Davis is interested in purchasing Gawker and various properties that it owns. Gawker media also runs Gizmodo, LifeHacker, and Deadspin among other popular publications.
Bankrupt doesn't mean going out of business. If the bankruptcy goes to plan, they can stay in business however now owe the victors a dime.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
It wasn't just that.
It helped a lot that Gawker had complete morons testifying for their side, which managed to make themselves look completely unsympathetic without any assistance. There's a valuable lesson here: don't be a snarky asshole in court. People might have to hold their tongue when they're on your website and you make the rules, but it's ill advised when you're the one in the vulnerable position.
And there's that the whole mess made Hogan lose a very lucrative contract, and he got awarded damages for that. Obviously it costs less to just embarrass an average joe than if your actions make somebody lose on earning millions.
Wrong. The First does not say 'the goverment shall have no involvement in any freedom of speech issues', it says 'Congress shall make no law...'. The Courts are not Congress, and the Courts were not created by Congress, and the Courts are not controlled by Congress,
Peter Thiel, beside being a bazillionaire, is also a high-level Republican donor and works to squelch gay rights while being in the closet himself. That in itself makes it newsworthy. Then there's the American trope that anything a rich man does is newsworthy.
A Judge Told Us to Take Down Our Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Post. We Won't.
Especially, don't brag online how you're going to ignore the judge.
No do-overs. This ain't kindergarten.
It wasn't even posting the material that probably did them in, but their entirely unrepentant attitude about doing so (I believe there was even something about a court-order being ignored).
The only agenda that gay people have is the right to equality and the right to not be discriminated against based on sexual orientation. We want the same equality that's (rightfully) given to Asians, Blacks, Latinos, Jews, women, and going back even further, the Polish, Greeks, etc...
Equality goes beyond the law. It goes into how people treat each other on a day-to-day basis. To those who say we're already there and to shut up: only 60% of people in the US accept gay people. This is shocking when you consider that people would be outraged if only 60% of Americans accepted women. Gay people have a long road ahead before they see equality in the US.