by Chi Ibe

Tech investor, PayPal co-founder and Donald Trump delegate to the Republican convention, Peter Thiel has confirmed that he has been secretly funding the lawsuit of wrestling champion, Hulk Hogan against intrepid American online platform, Gawker Media.

Both have been in caught after Hogan sued them for invasion of privacy in published a sex tape of the wrestler.

The courts awarded him $140 million in his lawsuit in March, but the case has gone on appeal.

Yesterday, Thiel revealed that he is helping Hogan financially and funding the suit, in order to deter online publications from bullying.

It would be recalled of course that Gawker outed Thiel as gay in 2007. But he denies that has played a role in this mission.

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” he told the Times. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.”

He said Gawker has published articles that were “very painful and paralyzing for people who were targeted”, many of whom do not have the money to pay for legal defence, adding, “I thought it was worth fighting back.

“Even someone like Terry Bollea [Hulk Hogan] who is a millionaire and famous and a successful person didn’t quite have the resources to do this alone.”

“The way I’ve thought about this is that Gawker has been a singularly terrible bully,” he added. “In a way, if I didn’t think Gawker was unique, I wouldn’t have done any of this.”

If Gawker loses the case upon appeal and is forced to make the payments to Hogan, it will cripple the company.