Gawker was an online news/celebrity gossip site that ran in the early 2000’s. They were pretty notorious for some of their unethical practices. Like finding the unique IMEI numbers of celebrities’ cell phones in Manhattan then tracking them and putting their real time locations online in a user friendly map causing them to get ambushed by fans while doing errands like shopping or getting a haircuts.

They made enemies with billionaire Peter Thiel by outing him as homosexual when they published his text messages sent to a male sex worker he was patronizing.

While there’s little proof it’s believed that Thiel along with the Republican party changed a long standing law that prevented third parties from funding other people’s lawsuits.

Regardless Gawker would get sued by Hulk Hogan when they published a private video of Hogan going into detail about his deeply held racist beliefs (saying the n-word numerous times, saying he didn’t want his daughter seeing black men).

This lead to Hulk being disavowed by the WWE. He was removed from their Hall of Fame and banned from further appearances.

Thiel funded Hulk’s defamation lawsuit as revenge for their earlier humiliation of him. A lawsuit Hulk would not have likely been about to pursue otherwise. While few would argue the merits, the damages were wildly inflated to the tune of 100’s of millions. Hulk was long past his prime and even his modestly successful reality TV series was long forgotten at that point so he wasn’t worth anywhere close to that amount.

While a fair ruling would have likely left Gawker intact this pointedly vindictive one forced them into bankruptcy. They closed their doors shortly there after to the delight of the right wing.

While many found Gawker’s “Nightcrawler” like approach to journalism abhorrent. Unflinchingly procuring and publishing the most salacious celebrity gossip regardless of consequence, or newsworthy merit. Often in ethically dubious ways.

It’s none the less a large part of why they broke they Epstein story first, which many in the media now admit was an open secret. They were true to their name, willing to expose some of the most powerful people on the planet on stories that defied all convention knowing that even the most upstanding and righteous person would compromise themselves to “gawk” at it.

I think they took a lot of pride in this, being able to bring down anyone of any race, creed, color or class to read their “dirty” tabloid. They know what your base desires want, even if you won’t admit it to yourself.

You meet people this brave (reckless?) once in a lifetime with this brutal effectiveness. Sure there’s plenty of war time journalists every bit as brave but their high morals seem to keep them from getting really dirty like Gawker did.

Maybe some will find that view offensive. None the less, if you relished the thought of a notorious child sex trafficker hanging from his cell. It’s not chic online influencers and trendy memes you should thank. It’s those reviled gossip hounds at Gawker. RIP ;__;