'This is twisted': Gawker editor slams billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel for bankrolling Hulk Hogan's $10million lawsuit - calling it a 'vindictive decade-long campaign' after an article outed him

Gawker editor Nick Denton has penned an open letter to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel after it emerged the billionaire was funding Hulk Hogan's lawsuit. 

Thiel revealed his monetary involvement in the case in an interview with the New York Times this week, explaining that he was motivated to stop the firm 'humiliating people for sport'.

On Thursday, Denton hit back at Thiel, accusing him of using his fortune to get revenge 10 years after he was outed in an article. 

'This vindictive decade-long campaign is quite out of proportion to the hurt you claim,' Denton wrote in an open letter. 'Your plaintiff’s lawyer, Charles Harder, has sued not just the company, but individual journalists.' 

He concludes appealing to Thiel to debate his issues in a public forum rather than funding lawsuits. 

It comes as reports claim Denton may soon sell his stake in Gawker Media, and allegedly already has a potential buyer willing to pay up to $70 million for it.   

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'Twisted': Gawker founder Nick Denton (left) has accused Peter Thiel (right in 2014) of running a 'twisted' campaign to harm individual writers after he was outed. Thiel insists he is trying to stop 'humiliating for sport'

Reasons: Thiel, 48, said that he helped Hogan (above at trial in March) because he believes Gawker has a tendency to 'bully' people who are 'defenseless'

Denton's open letter lists the financial and personal impacts on the individual writers that were involved in the Hulk Hogan lawsuit.

Then he adds: 'Peter, this is twisted. Even were you to succeed in bankrupting Gawker Media, the writers you dislike, and me, just think what it will mean.'

The British entrepreneur takes aim at Thiel and Silicon Valley, contrasting the lucrative industry with Gawker, which he describes as a 'small media company'.

'The world is already uncomfortable with the unaccountable power of the billionaire class, the accumulation of wealth in Silicon Valley, and technology’s influence over the media,' he says.

'You are a board member of Facebook (...) Now you show yourself as a thin-skinned billionaire who, despite all the success and public recognition that a person could dream of, seethes over criticism and plots behind the scenes to tie up his opponents in litigation he can afford better than they.'

The letter concludes with Denton appealing to Thiel to debate his concerns in an open forum, as opposed to further legal cases.  

'I’m going to suggest an alternative approach,' he writes.

'The best regulation for speech, in a free society, is more speech. We each claim to respect independent journalism, and liberty. 

'We each have criticisms of the other’s methods and objectives. Now you have revealed yourself, let us have an open and public debate.' 

The letter came a day after Thiel, the billionaire PayPal co-founder, told the Times he considers the website to be a 'bully'. 

They publicly outed him several years ago in a 2007 post that ran with the headline: 'Peter Thiel is totally gay, people'.

In reaction, Thiel gave Hulk Hogan $10 million to sue Gawker for publishing his sex tape.

Thiel, 48, told the Times that he believes many of the people Gawker writes about are defenseless and unable to fight back.  

'It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,' explained Thiel.

'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.'

Thiel, who is worth $2.7billion, then said that he was lucky when the website wrote about his sexuality because he was in a position to defend himself.

'Most of the people they attack are not people in my category. They usually attack less prominent, far less wealthy people that simply can’t defend themselves,' explained Thiel.

He also said in his interview that it was actually a friend who gave him the idea to fund Hogan's case. 

Thiel explained that he had been waiting for several years to find a way to take on Gawker and that this case seemed like a perfect example of what he believes is wrong with the site.

He also said that he views Hogan as one of the many people who are defenseless to Gawker's attacks.

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur revealed that he is currently funding a team of lawyers who look for individuals that have been victimized by Gawker's coverage and help them take on the company.

'The way I’ve thought about this is that Gawker has been a singularly terrible bully,' he explained.

Thiel, who is a Donald Trump supporter, then made it clear that he was not trying to attack all media outlets or silence journalists by adding: 'In a way, if I didn’t think Gawker was unique, I wouldn’t have done any of this. If the entire media was more or less like this, this would be like trying to boil the ocean.'

He also spoke about his decision to help Hogan with CNN on Thursday, saying; 'Gawker, the defendant, built its business on humiliating people for sport. 

'They routinely relied on an assumption that victims would be too intimidated or disgusted to even attempt redress for clear wrongs. Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to publish sex tapes without consent. I don't think anybody but Gawker would argue otherwise.'

Gawker meanwhile has hired an investment banker to explore possible future options in the wake of the massive $140 million judgment against them following the Hogan trial, with one of those options being to sell the company.

The company, which Thiel said 'built its business on humiliating people for sport,' has said however that they still believe they will prevail in their appeal of the Hogan verdict.

Before publishing his open letter, Nick Denton responded to the news that Thiel was Hogan's mystery benefactor with a brief statement.

'Just because Peter Thiel is a Silicon Valley billionaire, his opinion does not trump our millions of readers who know us for routinely driving big news stories including Hillary Clinton’s secret email account, Bill Cosby’s history with women, the mayor of Toronto as a crack smoker, Tom Cruise’s role within Scientology, the N.F.L. cover-up of domestic abuse by players and just this month the hidden power of Facebook to determine the news you see.'

Tough blow: Gawker editor AJ Daulerio (above in March during the trial) was then hit even harder than Denton by the punitive damages verdict with the jury ordering him to pay $100,000 of his own money despite being told about his financial status

Denton was named as a defendant in Hogan's suit, which ended with a Florida jury awarding him a staggering $140million in damages.

The wrestler was awarded $115million in economic injuries and emotional distress and then an additional $25million in punitive damages.

Those punitive damages were a considerable blow to Denton too because he was ordered to pay $10million of the total award out of his own pocket.

The jury's decision came just hours after Judge Pamela Campbell informed the four women and two men deciding the case that Denton is worth $121million while the site is valued at $83million.

Judge Campbell also informed the jury that the former editor of the site who posted the video and was also named as a defendant in the suit, AJ Daulerio, had no assets and owes $27,000 in student loans.

Daulerio was then hit even harder than Denton by the punitive damages verdict with the jury ordering him to pay $100,000 of his own money despite being told about his financial status.

Gawker general counsel Heather Dietrick released a statement shortly after the jury returned with their $25million decision stating how confident she was that the site would win the case on appeal.

She said an appeals court could overturn the case because the jury was prohibited from knowing about 'prior court rulings in favor of Gawker, prohibited from seeing critical evidence gathered by the FBI and prohibited from hearing from the most important witness, Bubba Clem.'

She then added; 'We are confident we will win this case ultimately based on not only on the law but also on the truth.' 

Thiel said in his interview that he never planned to keep the fact that he was funding Hogan's case a secret, believing it would come out at some point.

He went on to say that giving Hogan that $10million was 'one of [his] greater philanthropic things that [he's] done'

Thiel also said that he has other cases against Gawker he is currently funding, and that while he hopes his work will deter the company from writing stories like the one outing him or publishing Hogan's sex tape, he realizes it is out of his hands.

'If America rallies around Gawker and decides we want more people to be outed and more sex tapes to be posted without consent, then they will find a way to save Gawker, and I can’t stop it,' said Thiel. 

The site has made some changes to their coverage in recent years, most notably in their decision to stop outing people.

In addition to Thiel the site also revealed that Apple CEO Tim Cook was gay and then last year published a story about a Conde Nast executive allegedly hiring a male prostitute.

That story was later taken down after much public outcry, largely fueled by the fact that the man was relatively unknown outside the media world and was married with children. 

Denton meanwhile stated shortly after the Hogan trial that he has no regrets, or remorse, about posting a clip of the wrestler's sex tape.