Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder and Facebook investor who funded wrestler Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against the website Gawker, tells
The New York Times he wasn't out for revenge against the gossip site.
Instead, the tech businessman said, he wanted to provide a disincentive to other such sites. Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Bollea, sued the site for invading his privacy by publishing a sex tape of him and the wife of a former friend.
Thiel's backing of Hogan's lawsuit was a secret,
but was reported by Forbes this week. A judge denied Gawker a new trial on Wednesday, but lawyers said they would appeal.
That would be illegal, but paying for Hogan's suit would not. Thiel told the Times everything was above board.
Gawker outed Thiel as gay in 2007 and also hurt many of his friends, he said, and that is why he decided to fund several such lawsuits, including Hulk Hogan's.
"I can defend myself," Thiel said. "Most of the people they attack are not people in my category. They usually attack less prominent, far less wealthy people that simply can’t defend themselves."
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