In March of this year, Gawker Media lost their Hulk Hogan case. A Florida court awarded Hulk Hogan $115 million in damages, and while Gawker owner Nick Denton originally said that they were going to fight tooth and nail, at the end of the day Denton filed for bankruptcy and was forced to sell Gawker Media. The sale happened this week, and Univision purchased the property (which includes seven sites) for $135 million. At first, it was unclear if Univision was going to keep the entire property intact, but the announcement came yesterday: Gawker.com is closing down, but the other sites (Deadspin, Jezebel, etc) will remain. Univision is also throwing out Nick Denton. This was the announcement on Gawker:
After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week. The decision to close Gawker comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media’s six other websites, and four months after the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel revealed his clandestine legal campaign against the company.
Nick Denton, the company’s outgoing CEO, informed current staffers of the site’s fate on Thursday afternoon, just hours before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan will decide whether to approve Univision’s bid for Gawker Media’s other assets. Staffers will soon be assigned to other editorial roles, either at one of the other six sites or elsewhere within Univision. Near-term plans for Gawker.com’s coverage, as well as the site’s archives, have not yet been finalized.
While Gawker, as a media organization, had faults and made some bad editorial decisions, I am going to miss “the Gawker voice” in the blog world. I could easily get lost in their stories, going on clicking binges that started with a super-involved analysis of why Tupac is alive and living in Cuba, and ended up with a video of a black child being brutally assaulted by a police officer.
I’ve noticed some queasiness around the reporting of Gawker’s closure by other media outlets. While Gawker wasn’t the most respected outlet out there, they did significantly change the way readers absorbed and dissected online content, which is something that every media company wishes they could say. There’s also a general queasiness about an American tech oligarch using a shady cash infusion to a media company’s enemies as a way to shut down said media company. The questions around Peter Thiel’s actions – not to mention, Peter Thiel as a person (who doesn’t think women should get to vote) – are still lingering. And no one knows what this will mean for journalism and online media going forward.
In any case, goodbye, Gawker. We’ll miss you. The description of Duchess Kate-as-cocker-spaniel is still a moment of inspired genius.
Photos courtesy of Gawker, Getty.
This is tragic. Gawkers irreverence made it not just super entertaining but the one site you knew would speak truth regardless of pressure to do otherwise. And they did it for both silly celebrity stories and major political ones.
I really hope somebody else can fill that role. Thiel shouldn’t be allowed to win this!
I agree Naya, I’ve been loyal to Gawker for the same reasons; I always found their articles to say what no one else says. Sometimes I side eyed their story choices, but I was never pushed away as a reader. I’m really glad Jezebel is sticking around, and I’m hopeful the crossover of stories that occurred across both sites will continue to be posted on Jezebel.
I’m bummed by this.
I’m more upset about it’s demise than I’d like to admit. The writers could be pretentious little tw@ts at times but I enjoyed the hell out of it for years. The commentors were my favorite.
The commentators were the best. You really got every opinion on every story. It was a diverse crowd. Some of my favorite writers already left, so it hasn’t been the same, but I enjoyed the hell out of it, also.
They were great as the smart ass in the corner that had something to say but many times there information was skewed or just the most base or sketchy take possible. And more than once they’ve been flat out inaccurate (just like any other news source). I will definitely miss them of course and it’s so unfair the way they were basically taken down by a jerk with an agenda.
Yay, Freedom of the Press! This is Trump’s New World coming to fruition, folks. Great timing, because Peter Thiel is a fascist too! (More likely than not, the suit will get tossed eventually, and Gawker will be vindicated, but not before the damage is done. So…everybody wins?)
–TheRealPinky
Pinky, you siad it. People should be terrified that all it takes is money to shut down free press. This is going to have HUGE consequences.
Pinky – Except TRUMP HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! He’s not even president! How do you even come up with this comment??
Peter Thiel is hugely supportive of The Bloviating Tangerine, has donated, and spoke at the RNC. There has been talk that trump is now looking beyond his probable defeat, with thoughts of establishing a media empire, and this weeks hiring of breitbart nutcase Steve Bannon and continuing advice from Roger ” “raw hamburger” Aisles adds weight to that rumour.
A media group like that would make Fox look like an multi-ethnic feminist basket weaving group.
I don’t think I agreed with posting Hulks sex tape, and I don’t agree with outing anyone, which is why Thiel seemed to get involved. That and the rest of the negative articles posted on ValleyWag. Thiel seems like a pretty awful person though… So really there’s no winners in this.
I’m going to miss the commenters more than the articles probably, I’m doubtful all will stick around for Jez and Kotaku.
Agreed. No one comes off good here.
Thiel came out as gay in a New Yorker article in 2008.
Somehow, he forgot this, and got mad at Gawker anyway. The article is available for everyone to see.
Gawker’s outing was in 2007.
Peter Thiel is so gross.
I was at a pre-season game last night with my husband & stepdaughter when I saw this come across my phone…& it completely ripped my heart out of my chest.
Like this site, it keeps me laughing through nights I can’t sleep, crying when something really touches me, relieves me when they else point out other peoples hypocrisy, & I’ve been reading them (& you) for over a decade.
It’s helped me maintain my sarcasm (which I take great pride in) wit, & a sense of levity when everything else felt like its falling apart (relocating after living in NY, my first divorce, etc).
So in a way this is a thank you to you Celebitchy, as well as a tremendous shout out to Gawker, which will be sorely missed.
Thank you for being there for the very best escapism & never ever change (side eye in xojanes navel grazing, self-aggrandizing direction).
I’ll need y’all now more then ever lol
I didn’t always like Gawker’s tactics, but the way they were taken down is really troubling to me.
+1
Peter Thiel never said women shouldn’t be allowed to vote. He basically just explained libertarians don’t garner many female votes, so when women did start voting, the libertarian party suffered. Not the same thing at all.
Um, no, he said that the dream of real capitalism died in the 1920s when the broads got the vote and the government became a bastion of welfare handouts and chicks swinging the vote towards other unforgivably liberal causes.
On the one hand there was way too often a gleefully careless and petty viciousness in how they approached their subjects (and ultimately what did them in: attacking the Victoria Secret’s exec, Amy Pascal’s Amazon shopping list, the Hogan sex tape), but when they were good, they were amazing (Gamergate etc.) They definitely defined and led a style of journalism and analysis.
Gawker hasn’t been the same for a year now, not since it was retooled during the lawsuit, so for me it’s already gone from a daily click to looking in maybe once a week, but I’ll still miss it.
Caity Weaver was just the best, and Hamilton Nolan’s F*** Boston essay is still one of my favorites.
Caity was my favorite. Someone on the site called her “America’s Sweetheart” and that’s how I think of her.
I’ve not read a ton of Gawker and I disagree with their stance on the Hulk Hogan’s sex tape thing, but I strongly oppose Peter Theil’s actions to shut down an outlet he disliked.
Given that he “disliked them” because they outed him against his will, I’m a little more inclined to see things his way. This wasn’t a vendetta against legitimate journalism.
So everyone is just choosing to ignore this? “Thiel said he was motivated to sue Gawker after they published a 2007 article[117] discussing his sexuality, which concluded with the statement “Peter Thiel, the smartest VC in the world, is gay. More power to him.” Thiel and the author of the article agree[61] that he was already openly gay, but Thiel says that Gawker articles about others, including his friends, had “ruined people’s lives for no reason.” Thiel said, “It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence.”
Sam, I’m the rare one who will agree with you! I always found Gawker to be very mean spirited and predatory. This isn’t the first time they’ve “outed” someone against their will. They finally shat on someone who actually had money to fight them, and lost.
I think Gawker at times did some decent work. I loved when they outed ViolentAcrez. But the distinction I see was that VA was encouraging people to take legal, but very creepy and perverse pictures of underage girls and children and post them online, among other things. It was his actions that got him in trouble.
I also think an argument can be made about anti-gay politicians getting caught, and outing them. In those cases, an argument can be made that its newsworthy because it is a pretty clear display of hypocrisy and out of line with their public image. Even then, I tend to side with the journalists.
But outing Thiel had no, well, point. He wasn’t a lawmaker trying to pass laws against gay people. He wasn’t commenting on LGBT stuff in the press. He was just a tech guy. His sexuality had no real point in the public sphere. He was out to people close to him, but not in a general public sense. I cannot see any half-decent reason to publish any piece on his sexuality. And Thiel has pointed out that, by outing him nationally, it implicated other people close to him, and some of them were not out at all, and real damage was done.
I dislike that people see Thiel as a “jerk with an agenda” (as was said upthread). You might hate what he’s doing, but it’s worth remembering that he is one of the site’s victims. What amazes me is that he was outed in 2007. The Hogan case didn’t come up for several years. He waited for Gawker to basically step in it again and then sprung the trap. I guess it speaks to how genuinely angry he was.
But he never sued them for outing him which if he was that disturbed by it he should have. Nor did any of the other people in the article. Instead, Thiel funded multiple petty lawsuits against Gawker in order to force them into bankruptcy and to shut down.
Also, Hogan sued about the sex tape ONLY because it outed him as using the “n ” word and being a racist. In fact he was so “humiliated” by the sex tape being out there that he bragged about it on Howard Stern and made a mocking video of it to Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. He just found a wealthy backer in Thiel, a judge who hated Gawker (and who had many of her rulings in that case overturned by appeals courts), a dumb Florida jury who awarded an outrageous amount of money to a known liar in Hogan.
Gawker is/was sleazy but to pretend that Thiel and Hogan are hands-clean angels is stunning hubris. They are ALL scumbags.
Jilly – you have it quite wrong. The Hogan lawsuit was not “petty.” Most legal analysts, if you followed the case, agreed that Hogan had a pretty substantial case. Gawker’s whole defense was that Hogan has talked about his sex life in the press, so that this was basically okay. Which…no. Even if Gawker had simply reported ON the existence of the tape or what it contained, they might have skated by. There was NO newsworthy reason to actually post the video itself. It was gratuitous and an invasion of privacy. And also, the law doesn’t change because Hogan was about to laugh about it. An invasion of privacy doesn’t become “not so bad” because a victim is able to laugh about it later. That’s like saying that an assault isn’t so bad if a woman is able to crack a joke about it after the fact. I’d hope you know better than that.
And so what if they are all scumbags? I’m not sure if you’re aware, but scumbags in fact have rights. A scumbag maintains a right to privacy. A scumbag is entitled to not have their most private moments broadcast around the world. It’s kind of chilling that you seem to think that because Hogan and Thiel aren’t great guys, this is okay. That’s why they’re called RIGHTS – because we all get them, regardless of whether we’re likable.
The other issue with Gawker is their hypocrisy. They refused to publish any of the Jennifer Lawrence nude pics because they were the result of a hack and a violation of her privacy. However, they had no issues with the Hogan tape, despite knowing at the time that Hogan wasn’t aware he was being taped (and refused to remove it after the judge’s initial order). That’s a double standard. So it’s okay to invade the privacy of a man you dislike but not that of a woman you’re fond of? I have more respect for the Dirty, which will publish anything, provided it gets clicks. It’s totally amoral, but it’s not hypocritical. Gawker was the thing I abhor most in the world – hypocrites.
Let’s just hope no billionaires with agendas decide to go after the Guardian or CB or ONTD now.
Did the verdict set any legal precedents?
As long as they don’t out people who want to keep their sexuality private, they shouldn’t have a problem.
@ladysussex:
Gawker was dumb and stupid for outing Thiel and publishing Hogan’s sex tape. We all agree on that.
Billionaires have already tried to take down publications like Mother Jones through petty lawsuits. Thiel’s success will give them ammunition.
Many local and independent news organizations who report real news have already been targeted because they saw how successful Thiel has been. And they aren’t outing people or writing gossip. They are being targeted because they wrote about corruption, politics, pollution, etc. Thiel didn’t just find the Hogan lawsuit – he funded other lawsuits against Gawker, many of them petty – like the guy suing about a story they wrote about Trump’s hair.
Now people who want to sue the media into submission have a blueprint and a willing court system and dumb juries who award outrageous damage costs.
Jilly, you are confusing meritorious litigation with SLAAP suits. They are not the same thing in the least. Thiel bankrolled Hogan because Hogan’s case had actual merit to it and a viable chance at success. A SLAAP suit, which is what was done to Mother Jones, is by definition a case with little to no merit. Please do not confuse them. Gawker lost the suit because they deserved to lose it. Full stop.
@Sam: You are my girl!/boy!/howeveryouchoosetoidentify!
I hope you come here regularly to provide legal details (and other details)!
The way that Gawker ended is very disturbing, even though many aspects of Gawker itself is messed up as all hell. I’m going to miss that site, though.
My favourite part of gawker was the comment section, I’m really going to miss that. I think what galls me the most is that it was hulk Hogan that took it down!
But without Peter’s money, it would not have gone this far. That is what is truly disturbing.
Gawker shutting down is not on Peter Thiel. It’s shutting down because it made it a bad editorial decision. Gawker stepped in it with Hogan and Thiel took advantage of it.
+1000000000 thanksfor stating the obvious… What they did to hulk Hogan was horrible… No one deserves to be treated that way no matter how horrible that person is… Even when the judge ordered them to take down the video they refused to do so… So no sympathies for them from me
Agreed. And people forget WHY Thiel hates Gawker – they outed him without his consent years ago. Regardless of how I feel about Thiel, that is a repulsive act to do to somebody. Nick Denton is on record that he thinks nonconsensual outing is okay because it’s better to “live in the truth.” Thiel has a right to be angry.
You’re also right about Hogan. Hogan won, not because Thiel bankrolled him, but because his case had genuine merit. Hogan did have his privacy violated. The fact that he is a dislikable person does not change that.
I understand Thiel’s anger. He waited to make them pay.
Although I will miss them, Gawker brought this on themselves.
I loved some bits of old Gawker – like Adrien Chen’s reporting on internet trolls, etc. Luckily, he stills writes. Old Gawker had some valuable stuff. But in the last 1-2 years, it has declined badly. I feel no sympathy for it now. They brought this on themselves through violating privacy for clicks.
TRUE DAT FingerBinger. OMG finally a voice of reason.
THANK YOU. I don’t understand how people are forgetting this. As though PT just took them down out of thin air. No.
You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Gawker should never have published Hulk Hogan’s sex tape. It’s outed people, it’s gotten things wrong… they were taken down because they gave Thiel ammunition.
YASSS!! Speaking the truth!
I hate to see a media outlet shut down. It doesn’t sit well with me.
I hope those employed by Gawker.com will really be assigned elsewhere and not let off.
Gawker didn’t out Theil. It was common knowledge that he’s gay before they said anything.
His company collects data from private citizens and sells it to the government and private companies. Apparently the only privacy he’s concerned about is his own.
He was out to his immediate community. He also had friends who were not out at all. He’s stated multiple times that he did not wish to make his orientation a matter of wider public knowledge – as is his right. He’s also stated that the article also outed people close to him, who were not out at all, and some people were really impacted by that. I don’t get why it’s a hard concept that “out” to some people doesn’t create a carte blanche to shout somebody’s orientation from the rooftops.
In addition, just because Thiel is involved in data collection does not make it okay for Gawker to out him. What a false equivalence there.
Gawker’s demise is all about hubris. They may not be villains but they are not the good guys in this story either. Next time punch up, not down and park your arrogance somewhere out of sight.
Gawker is that catty friend that is always entertaining, sometimes disgusting and a little scary because you don’t want them to turn their claws on you. But they are always a good time. RIP Gawker. Welcome back work productivity.
Such excellent, astute comments downthread. I think I’m going to start at the bottom of the comment section from now on!
I am very sad about this. The comments section was the BEST on the web. (Sorry celebitchy).