14 DAY TRIAL // Hulk Hogan can finally breathe easy: after being publicly shamed with the leak of a homemade video of a very personal nature, he’s decided to settle the case with the man responsible for the leak, his friend Bubba the Love Sponge.
As we also informed you at the time, Hulk took Bubba to court for claims that he taped him and then released the footage without his consent.
The footage in question, as you must have heard, showed Hulk and Bubba’s own wife having relations.
Though he was bent in seeing justice served, the Hulk seems to have had a change of heart as regards Bubba, because he’s dropped the lawsuit against him.
Not the same can be said about Bubba’s wife and Gawker (and its affiliates), the only media outlet to post segments from the tape online.
“Financial terms of the settlement were not released, but clearly a public mea culpa from Bubba, real name Todd Alan Clem, was part of the deal,” TMZ reports.
“Bubba released an apology letter today, saying he now believes Hulk had no idea he was being recorded and that Hulk did not play a part in releasing the tape,” the celebrity e-zine says.
Obviously, this is the exact opposite of what Bubba was saying when Hulk first threatened to take matters to court, because his initial excuse was that the star knew what was going on all along and might have even been involved, in one way or another, in the leak.
“It is my belief that Hulk is not involved, and has not ever been involved, in trying to release the video, or exploit it, or otherwise gain from the video’s release in any way. [I am] committed to helping Hulk and his attorneys find whoever is responsible for the release of the tape,” Bubba says.
In the meantime, Hulk is still asking for $100 million (€77.4 million) in damages from Gawker.