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Yes, I realize I am pretty late with this thread today. However, I got up late and then I had to sort some things out with the new house I’m moving to, so please forgive me my transgression. Here’s the live stream below. A.J. Daulerio, the former Editor-in-Chief of Gawker, was hammered on the stand all morning long. Now they seem to be arguing about whether Bubba the Love Sponge should have to testify or not.

 

Bubba is trying to plead the 5th…

Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (his legal name, which was changed from Todd Alan Clem) is in a bind…

Though he was a named defendant in Hogan’s original 2012 suit, Clem settled with his old friend within weeks of the initial filing. As an apparent part of the settlement, Bubba read an apology to Hogan on his syndicated radio show. “After further investigation,” he said on October 29, 2012, during his WHPT-FM/102.5 morning show. “I am now convinced that Hulk Hogan was unaware of the presence of the recording device in my bedroom. I am convinced he had no knowledge that he was being taped. Additionally, I am certain that he had no role in the release of the video.”

These remarks are significantly at odds with Clem’s on-air rant on October 16, 2012 — the day after Hogan filed suit against him. “There were three people in that home. All three knew what time it was,” Bubba raged. “You know I have surveillance. You knew of everything going on … But now that your feelings are hurt … you’re trying to cover your ass with your wife and your jobs and your social standing.”…

It’s not against the law to lie like a rug in public; but in court, Bubba Clem will be required to decide on one of these two versions of events, while the other, widely available in public, is staring the court in the face. It is impossible, for me at least, to see how the two statements can coexist in that order in a rational mind; how can Clem have been completely convinced that Hogan “knew of everything going on,” and then later convinced that he knew nothing? When we consider A.J. Daulerio’s testimony of Monday morning, which included his assertion that the tape began with Bubba saying to Hogan and Heather Clem, “You go and have fun,” or words to that effect, it seems clear that Bubba is plain in the soup…

According to Bixenspan, the few redacted documents we have relating to that investigation reveal, “that Mr. Clem told the FBI the opposite, stating to FBI agents that Bollea knew about his cameras and knew he was being filmed during his sexual encounter with Ms. Clem … If Bubba Clem did lie to the FBI, he would, technically, be incriminating himself by testifying under oath again to the opposite scenario during the Bollea v. Gawker trial.”

Gawker is now busy arguing that the entire trial should now be thrown out as a result of his refusal to testify without invoking his 5th Amendment privilege. Anyway, before we get to that portion of the tweets from today, let’s start with Daulerio’s testimony.

(She’s now the Editor-in-Chief of Gawker Media-owned Jezebel)

More, from the afternoon session…

DENTON RECAP:

A calm Denton, dressed in a slate gray suit, white button-down shirt and slim charcoal tie, gave an almost professorial rundown of his career to date, which included a high-profile career at The Financial Times with plum reporting assignments in Eastern Europe during the fall of Communism. As his career progressed, the Oxford-educated journalist explained that he wanted to tell stories that pulled back the curtain on newspaper reports.

“I did find newspapers a little restrictive,” Denton said. “If you work for a newspaper, you know the version of a story that appears…it’s accurate…but there are a lot of things missing.”

The “deals” that are done “behind the scenes” and the “strings that are pulled” by publicists are the stories he wanted to tell.

“You can call it gossipy; I like to call it true, reading between the lines,” he said, noting that ultimately the telling of those back-room stories gave him the impetus to start Gawker Media…

The importance of shining a light on “new” material in the form of exclusives and scoops was echoed by Denton during his testimony.

“If all you are doing is repeating or rehashing what other people said…there’s no real point of that,” he said, referring to his mandate to nab exclusives. “It’s supposed to be new…a new idea, a new product, whatever it is.” He explained that this holds true for all publishers, and in the case of digital outlets, it helps drive traffic, which in turn brings in more advertising revenue. Since Gawker Media launched in 2003, Denton noted that the company has published 960,000 posts, or about 100,000 stories a year, which equates to 2,000 posts a week.

In 2012, when he served as publisher, Denton told his 60-person editorial staff via a memo to “be even more of a hustler” in order to drive traffic. Reporters who earned more unique views would be up for higher bonus compensation. While Denton explained in court that he meant for reporters to “provoke conversation and be aggressive,” Bollea’s defense team claims that mandate was key in the decision to post the sex clip.

Tomorrow, I will be giving my own live reaction to the Denton cross-examination, which I’ve been waiting for this whole trial. I imagine that Hogan’s lawyers are going to go pretty damn hard on him. I think this is a pretty good recap for today. Also, keep in mind that media types are busy spinning outrage over the question to Jezebel Editor-in-Chief Emma Carmichael about whether or not she ever slept with Denton (who is gay) or A.J. Daulerio. It was out-of-bounds, I must say, but it’s not worth diverting attention away from the key issues at play in this trial.