By Alex Bregman

In an interview with Yahoo global news anchor Katie Couric, Gawker founder and CEO Nick Denton said, “The site will still annoy people, it will upset people, and it will particularly embarrass people who are in positions of power and people who have some things to be embarrassed about.”



He said this less than a week after telling Gawker staffers that the site was entering a “second act” in the wake of the fallout from publishing an article that outed a man who allegedly hired a male prostitute. The man in question is married to a woman, has children and is not a public figure.

Gawker decided to pull down the article after it sparked a wave of criticism. That decision led two of the site’s editors to step down. According to Gawker, it was the first time the site ever removed an article for reasons other than factual errors or legalities.

Denton told Couric, “Most of the stories that we publish I’m not just happy to defend, I’m delighted to defend. I think they’re essential to free expression and free press. This was a story I just didn’t feel able to defend. … I couldn’t answer the questions. I couldn’t answer someone like you.”

Couric pressed Denton on Gawker’s outing of public figures like journalist Anderson Cooper and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Denton’s response: “I make no apologies for this. We believe information should be free. The truth will out, and the public has the right to the same information that insiders do.”

He went on, “Ultimately it’s an editorial gut check, and there has to be a balance made of, what is the cost to this person of this story? What is going to be the pain? Because most good stories, most great stories involve somebody getting hurt. There’s just no way around that. The stories that we are most proud of, you’ve got to accept that somebody’s getting hurt.”

Denton acknowledged, however, that if he had been outed in a publication he would have felt “horribly embarrassed.” He went on to say, “The one consolation I have is that I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody who was out of the closet, after … at least after a while who actually regretted being out of the closet, being open in their lives.”

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He also discussed the $100 million lawsuit being brought by former wrestler Hulk Hogan against Gawker for posting part of a sex tape featuring Hogan in 2012. This week the former wrestler accused the site of releasing a transcript of a tape in which he repeatedly used the N word. On that allegation, Denton told Couric: “It’s not true. It’s ridiculous. We did not leak the transcript.” He went on, “Hulk Hogan really has himself to blame for the predicament that he’s in.”

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, issued a statement to Yahoo News that reads in part, “We believe Nick Denton committed a massive invasion of privacy by publishing a surreptitiously-recorded sex video of Mr. Bollea in a private bedroom and we expect Denton will be punished severely for his horrific actions.” It went on, “Mr. Bollea is more determined than ever to win his case against Denton, [former Gawker editor A.J.] Daulerio and Gawker, and obtain the maximum possible judgment against them.”

Denton’s response to Couric: “It’s kind of remarkable that he thinks he deserves a payday for his actions and his words.”

Even in the wake of the recent shakeup at Gawker, Denton said he would publish the Hogan story all over again today. He told Couric it was “an absolutely valid, newsworthy story.” He continued, “My regret is because of the chilling effect of this lawsuit that we were not able to pursue the other tapes and the other information that was revealed.”

A trial date has been set for March of next year. Stay tuned.

