Names and faces
The six Florida jurors who sided with Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit over the publication of a sex tape said they believe the ex-professional wrestler was emotionally distressed over it. In an ABC News interview that aired Thursday morning, the jurors said that despite Hogan’s celebrity status, he’s still a human being. They awarded him $140 million in his lawsuit against Gawker Media. “If we were all in the same circumstance, how would we feel about it?” juror Paula Eastman said. “And, emotionally, we would have all been pretty devastated.” In a separate interview that aired Thursday, Hogan told NBC’s Today show that he hasn’t watched the tape, adding that it was “the most embarrassing moment of my life.” He sued Gawker for invasion of privacy after it published the video online in which he has sex with his friend’s wife. Gawker said the footage was newsworthy information about a public figure and was protected by the First Amendment. During the interview, Hogan also said he is accountable for his actions. Salina Stevens, another juror in the case, said she looked for signs of remorse from Gawker Media founder Nick Denton but didn’t see any. Denton, who says he’ll appeal the verdict, told ABC that he still believes the sex tape was newsworthy.
The Swedish Academy, which selects the winners of the Nobel Prize in literature, has condemned an Iranian death warrant against British writer Salman Rushdie, 27 years after it was first pronounced. Two members quit the academy in 1989 after it refused to condemn Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa, or religious edict, against Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his book The Satanic Verses. The death decree forced Rushdie into hiding for years. Citing its code against political involvement, the academy issued a statement defending free expression but without explicitly supporting Rushdie. However, in a statement posted on its website Thursday, the academy for the first time denounced the fatwa and reward money for Rushdie’s death as “flagrant breaches of international law,” adding that literature must be free from political control. Asked what prompted the academy to revisit the issue, acting secretary Tomas Riad referred to the normalization process between Iran and the West and the increase of the bounty by $600,000.