These Gawker Jurors Don’t Care That a Billionaire Funded Hulk Hogan’s Lawsuit

The outrage following last week’s revelation that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had funded Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media LLC wasn't just about a rich guy throwing his money around; it was about a rich guy secretly throwing his money around. The jurors who were deciding the case—and also, perhaps, Gawker’s capacity to fund its continued existence—were making their decision without a potentially important detail.

It turns out that the jurors wouldn’t have cared, anyway. At least, that is what two of them said when asked about Thiel’s involvement. In a conflict involving an aggrieved professional wrestler and a snarky gossip website, a plot twist involving a shadowy technology billionaire didn't seem that shocking.