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This random commenter's opinion is actually shared by Bloomberg View, and was used during the trial by Gawker's defense. It simply goes that if Hulk Hogan openly discussed his sex life to the public, then shouldn't a video of him having sex be considered newsworthy?

People

No.

Quick lesson in what's newsworthy versus what's not newsworthy: When Hulk Hogan was taped admitting he's a racist, it was newsworthy because the story was about a heavily influential performer and entrepreneur having a serious bias that could affect his business relations and decisions. When Hulk Hogan was taped railing his friend's wife, it was not newsworthy because the story was about a heavily influential performer and entrepreneur railing his friend's fucking wife.

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Saying that Hulk Hogan's sex tape is up for grabs because he uses sex in his persona is like saying that you should be able to legally punch Johnny Knoxville because he gets hurt on camera. It's like saying you should be able to rape a porn star because they do rough sex scenes (which is something that has actually happened, you guys). It's insanity when applied to literally any other situation.

Entertainment Weekly

It was also a completely legitimate argument in the eyes of the law back in 1997.

When a disgruntled electrician broke into their safe and released the sex tape he found inside of it, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee couldn't legally stop Penthouse from publishing the stolen images because the court decided that the actress regularly talking about her sex life in public made her case invalid. Holy. Fucking. Balls.

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Are you starting to see how fucking greasy this argument becomes when you take it to the logical limits? People pretend that there's a gray area, but the line couldn't be more clear if it was made with screaming light bulbs covered in lava. But of course, that part of your brain is already thinking the thing I think it's thinking, which is, "Boo-hoo! How sad that these poor rich folks got even richer off their sex tapes!"