Hulk Hogan and Gawker founder trade insults after bitter trial

UPDATED 8:20 p.m. PT with comments from Hulk Hogan. 

Gawker founder Nick Denton might be down, but he refuses to be counted out. 

In his first public statement since losing to Hulk Hogan in a civil case concerning the publication of the wrestler's sex tape, Denton defiantly predicted that he would end up the victor when the appeals are over.

"We have had our day in trial court, and we lost. We will have our day back in appeals court, and we will be vindicated," Denton wrote in the piece. 

On Friday, a Florida jury ruled that Gawker had violated the privacy of Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, by publishing a sex tape of the wrestler with a friend's then-wife. 

The jury awarded $115 million in damages to Hogan, and then came back on Monday and added another $25 million in punitive damages -- $10 million of which could come out of Denton's own pocket.

In a lengthy post published on Gawker on Tuesday afternoon, Denton issued a variety of pointed jabs in which he criticized "attention-seeking" celebrities and said that famous people have a narrower field of privacy than regular citizens.

"The benefits of publicity come at a price; and for someone like Hogan, whose whole life is a performance, it’s a full-time and long-term commitment," Denton wrote.

A seemingly battered Hulk Hogan doesn't think so. He told the New York Post in his first interview since the verdict Tuesday that the sex tape lawsuit was embarrassing and made him feel like a joke. 

"[The defendants] said it was newsworthy — I felt like I was in the middle of a joke, that they were trying to make something that’s a joke in a locker room with men getting dressed," Hogan told the Post.

To keep his emotions up during the trial, Hogan said he repeated affirmations to himself. "I am victorious. I am grateful. I am highly favored by God and His universe," he would say. 

Denton said Hogan's initial winnings were significantly more than the average jury award in the case of wrongful death, which just tops $900,000.

Denton railed further on the jury's verdict.

"The enormous size of the verdict is chilling to Gawker Media and other publishers with a tabloid streak, but it is also a flag to higher courts that this case went wildly off the rails," Denton wrote.

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Hogan said he was offered a "large amount of money" to settle, but decided against accepting it in order to "follow [his] heart.

He hopes the verdict puts Gawker in its place and prompts the media organization to reassess its definition of public information.

"I started having, like Oprah has, these ‘aha’ moments. … Everybody’s a celebrity,’ I thought. ‘Oh, my God, they’re gunning for everybody. Everybody is fair game," he said, adding that he doesn't think A.J. Daulerio, Gawker's editor in chief, understands the magnitude of his actions.

“I don’t know if [Daulerio] really understands how wrong he is. I think some type of experience, if this trial didn’t humble him, then maybe picking up trash on the side of the road might.’’

But Denton noted in his post that the verdict would not change how Gawker operates.

"These always-on celebrities should not be surprised when their credibility is questioned, and journalists attempt to sort out what is real and what is fake," Denton wrote. "That’s our job, and we intend to pursue it both in the courts and on the page."

Denton claimed that the case was not about the release of the sex tape but rather about a separate and unpublished tape that had captured Hogan using racial slurs. Hogan eventually lost his job at the WWE because of those slurs, for which he later apologized.

"It turns out this case was never about the sex on the tape Gawker received, but about racist language on another, unpublished tape that threatened Hogan’s reputation and career," Denton wrote.

Denton's claims are backed up by recently unsealed legal briefs that also cast doubt on whether Hogan told the truth when he said in court that he did not realize that his sexual encounter was being filmed.

"I’m done, I'm tapped out."--Hulk Hogan

Hogan was dismissive when the Post asked about the racist remarks. “Those who know me know I’m not a racist," he said, noting that he hoped he would be able to repair his image. 

He imagines himself working on a movie with Sylvester Stallone in the future and penning a sponsorship deal with Chevrolet.

“Everybody has a different journey and a different threshold of how much of a beat-down they want to take, and I’m done, I’m tapped out,” Hogan said.​

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