A Netflix viewing on August 17th. The film deals with the trial of Terry Bollea vs. Gawker. Not sure who Terry Bollea is? He's this guy...
The Ultimate Male himself, Thunderlips.
In case you were not aware of the facts around this case, Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, had sex with the wife of "Bubba the Love Sponge" and a video recording of the some enchanted evening was made and Gawker released it. It also came out in the movie that "Bubba" often videotapes his wife having sex with others. WEIRD! Apparently the tape did not paint a very nice image of Mr. Bollea and he sued Gawker in Flordia for $100 million.
It turns that Gawker had made an enemy of Silicon Valley billionaire, Peter Thiel. Gawker outed him as a homosexual years earlier and Thiel still held a grudge. So much so that he bankrolled Bollea's suit. Side note: it was wrong for Gawker to out Thiel. The article may not have been malicious but it was wrong. So Thiel wanted to use his wealth to crush Gawker. He was successful. What I found weird about this portion of the film was that Bollea managed to get the jury to believe that Hulk Hogan and Terry Bollea are separate people. He bragged about his male endowment on Howard Stern but in the trial he made it clear that Terry Bollea does not have a "ten inch penis" but the character of Hulk Hogan does. Weird.
Then the film switches gears to the sale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015. It was later revealed that billionaire Sheldon Adelson was behind the purchase. Apparently, Adelson felt articles about him should have been more flowery, he even went so far as to offer to pay the medical expenses of a reporter's daughter if the reporter would retract an article about him. He wasn't satisfied with being filthy rich so he bought the paper out of spite.
The point the filmmakers wanted prove was that the free press is under siege. If a billionaire doesn't like the articles being written about him, it's usually a white male, then they will use their limitless wealth to crush the publication. Or just buy it out. Even Trump himself famously warned that he would open up the libel laws to make it easier to sue the media.
The film received an 89% Rotten Tomatoes rating. If the film's purpose is to solicit an emotional reaction from the viewer, then it was successful. If you are a free thinker, then this film is a must watch.
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