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Before today, Hulk Hogan and HBO’s Silicon Valley had nothing in common besides speculation that Bachman would approve of the Hulkster’s facial hair. However, 2016 is an unpredictable year. Today it was revealed that billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Thiel has been the one bankrolling Hulk Hogan’s legal case against Gawker, which could end up costing the company $140 million or more. Another thing you should know? Thiel had a Silicon Valley character based on him, one who went by the name of Peter Gregory.
If you’ve been keeping up with the neverending world of internet controversies, then you probably already know all about Hulk Hogan’s sex tape scandal. If that’s not the case, here’s the breakdown. In 2006, Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea) had sex with Heather Clem, the wife of radio personality, Bubba the Love Sponge, and it was filmed without Hogan’s knowledge or consent. Hogan later admitted to the hook up on The Howard Stern Show and, according to Hogan, he burned the sex tape to a DVD and put it in a desk drawer. Cut to 2012, and an editor at Gawker published an extract from that same sex tape. Obviously, the pro wrestler wasn’t pleased with this outcome, and he took the site to court. In March, a jury awarded Hogan $115 million — $55 million in compensatory damages and $60 million for emotional distress. Gawker has since filed two post-trial motions, and a hearing for those motions is set to take place in May.
However, a question has loomed over this trial since its beginning: Where has Hogan been getting the money to bankroll this lengthy and clearly expensive legal suit? As Forbes magazine reported Tuesday, that money has been coming from the co-founder of PayPal and one of the earliest investors in Facebook, Peter Thiel. Oh, also, Gawker notoriously outed the billionaire in 2007, so yeah. Thiel likely isn’t supporting Hogan because it gives him warm fuzzies at night. He’s out for vengeance.
So what does all of this have to do with HBO’s critically-acclaimed comedy? In the first season of the show, the character of Peter Gregory —who first bankrolled our Pied Piepers— was reportedly based on Peter Thiel. Both Thiel and Gregory were known for their libertarian political views, as well as their encouragement of young geniuses to drop out of college to start businesses. As pointed out by this Reddit user, the show even had a moment when it subtly nodded to either Thiel’s sexuality and his controversy with Gawker. The show’s fourth episode followed the main group as they attended Peter Gregory’s 4th Annual Orgy of Caring, a toga party where attractive actors and actresses are paid to talk to the the party’s introverted programmers. Following the death of Peter Gregory’s actor, Christopher Evan Welch, the character was killed off and replaced by Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer).
There’s nothing about this Silicon Valley character that’s hinted at Thiel’s current involvement with Hogan’s Gawker case, but the characterization did offer some seemingly appropriate insight into Peter / Thiel’s psyche. Monica (Amanda Crew) explains the billionaire mentality best:
Peter would spend millions just to mildly annoy Gavin. These are billionaires, Richard. Annoying each other means more to them than we’ll make in a lifetime.
Wise words. Consider this your official excuse to rewatch the first Season of Pied Piper’s creation.
