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After Hulk Hogan stepped down from testifying, a juror asked for a clarification of the time between the release of the still photos and the Gawker publication of Hogan's video.
They next played a video deposition from former TNA Vice President of Publicity Jules Wortman. The early portion of her deposition was explaining her background in publicity, where she worked and how she came to work for TNA for 18 months. She then was asked and discussed Hogan's role in the company. Wortman said that nationally, outlets wanted to talk to Hogan not other stars, who would be used for more local publicity, naming Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle as examples. She noted that the news program "Hannity" canceled Hogan from an appearance after the sex tape came out. She noted that Hogan did not want to talk about the sex tape and told her his other publicist would cut deals so he wouldn't have to discuss it but Wortman said she didn't do that. Wortman said she told Hogan to hit the "reset button" and refuse to discuss the topics, but he didn't follow that advice. She relayed a story about Hogan being upset after an appearance with Kathy Lee Gifford and Gifford consoling him because she understood what it was like having life play out in the public eye. In regard to the Howard Stern appearance, Wortman commented that she thought an appearance on Stern doesn't "go well for anybody."
The next witness called was David Rice, a former staffer for the Bubba the Love Sponge show. They actually read a deposition he had previously given. He explained that installed the camera that filmed Hogan/Heather Clem for Bubba and that the camera had to be turned on to record and then a blank DVD had to be placed into a DVD recorder and record had to be pressed on the machine. He learned about the Hogan/Heather tape after leaving Bubba's show when The Drudge Report website linked to the Gawker video.
The next witness, via video deposition, was from Tony Burton, who contacted Gawker.com's AJ Daulerio offering him the Hogan/Clem tape. Daulerio is the author of the story that accompanied the video clips Gawker published. Burton is a talent agent. He said his client knew someone who had the sex tape. He stated he did not ask for money from Daulerio in exchange for the tape, nor did he instruct him what to do with the tape.
Coverage continues on Page 2.
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