Media

Gawker’s internal emails show callous response to ‘rape’ victim

Gawker’s callousness goes beyond its Web site. Even its complaint department commented “Blah, blah, blah” when a college co-ed objected to the release of video that may show her being raped.

Jurors at Hulk Hogan’s invasion-of-privacy trial heard Friday how former top Gawker editor Albert “A.J.” Daulerio — who put the infamous Hogan sex tape online — also posted video of the young woman engaged in sex in a bathroom stall at a Bloomington, Ind., sports bar in May 2010.

Days later, the woman wrote Gawker, begging that the video be taken down from its sports-themed Deadspin Website, according to e-mails read in court by Hogan lawyer Shane Vogt.

“I am the girl in it and it was stolen from me and put up without my permission,” the unidentified woman wrote on May 11, 2010.

Gawker’s complaint department forwarded the message to Daulerio, along with a note saying, “Blah, blah, blah,” Vogt said.

Daulerio then e-mailed the woman and told her to “not make a big deal out of this,” adding: “I’m sure it’s embarrassing but these things do pass, keep your head up.”

Then-company lawyer Gaby Darbyshire also e-mailed the woman, defending the video as “completely newsworthy” and scolding her about how “one’s actions can have unintended consequences.”

But Gawker reversed itself the next day and removed the entire posting, with Daulerio later admitting to GQ magazine he had regrets because the video “wasn’t funny” and “was possibly rape.”

Three women and one man on the six-member jury scribbled notes about the e-mail exchanges, with the man sternly peering over his glasses at Daulerio, 41, a co-defendant in the Hogan case.

An expert witness appearing for Hogan also testified that Gawker boosted its corporate value as much as $15.5 million by posting the hidden-camera sex recording of the pro wrestling legend.

Jeff Anderson, director of valuation and analytics at Consor Intellectual Asset Management, said 5.4 million people viewed the Hogan tape at Gawker between October 2012 and April 2013, resulting in a 28.5 percent spike in traffic to the site.