The R. Kelly ‘cult’ story and the ‘Gawker Effect’
Gawker posted a sex tape of Hulk Hogan online, without his consent, and refused to take it down. It was a tape that the Gawker editor who posted it had to admit in court had no news value. It&#x27;s pretty disgusting to hear WaPo hand-wring over rape culture without addressing the fact that Gawker&#x27;s non-consensual posting of two people&#x27;s sex act is the very definition of rape culture. Peter Thiel is an unlikeable human for many reasons, but let&#x27;s not forget that Gawker also outed him as gay without his permission. WaPo skips over that too.<p>It sounds like the outcome of Hogan v. Gawker is that news media - and especially the ream of online-only &quot;news&quot; sites that have sprouted over the past decade - are far more likely to fact check their stories before they publish stories that only serve to humiliate and degrade their subjects. Sexual predator or not, slow coverage of the R. Kelly debacle can hardly be pinned on Hulk Hogan holding Gawker accountable for their actions.