Nick Hogan Suing Bubba The Love Sponge Over Unreleased Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Scandal Documentary Update – Bubba The Love Sponge Files Motion for Lawsuit Dismissal

As noted before, Nick Hogan, son of the late WWE Hall of Famer Hilk Hogan, filed a lawsuit last week against Bubba The Love Sponge attempting to prevent the release of Bubba’s “Video Killer The Radio Star: The Untold Story Of The Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Scandal” documentary. Despite the lawsuit, a premiere screening was held by Bubba for the documentary this week in Florida that featured an edited version of the film being shown.

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that Bubba The Love Sponge, real name Todd Clem, filed a motion on Tuesday arguing that last week’s temporary restraining order (TRO) against his film is “legally and constitutionally unsustainable.” Clem argued that no estate has been opened nor any personal representatives named and therefore, Nick Bollea and Terry McCoy lack the authority to seek injunctive relief. In the filing, Clem is also requesting that the lawsuit should be thrown outright. The filing also cite a lack of records with the Pinellas County, Florida’s Clerk of Court Records regarding an estate or probate matter being opened for Hulk Hogan for his request for a dismissal.

In the filing, Clem also argues that he is not the producer of the documentary and it is wholly owned, controlled, produced, and distributed by Woltz Films, which is not listed as a defendant. Clem argued that he is only a subject in the documentary and made a content license agreement with Woltz Films to promote it.

By purposefully bypassing Woltz Films, a nonparty to any Settlement Agreement with Bollea, and instead targeting Clem, Plaintiffs secured sweeping early injunctive relief in the TRO against Clem that is now being used as a basis to assert claims to non-parties contrary to well established fair use law and also subjected Clem to senseless litigation. This tactic is improper and further underscores why the TRO must be dissolved.

Clem also argues that he has no creative control, no ownership interest, no distribution rights, and no exhibition rights for the documentary.

In regards to the 2012 settlement agreement between him and Bollea and the potential violation of it, Clem argued:

Plaintiffs also accuse Clem of exploiting Bollea’s declining health and eventual death on his radio show. Yet Clem’s statements were truthful and newsworthy.

The documentary is a journalistic and historical work that, in part, comments on and contextualizes a notorious celebrity sex tape scandal. This is a documentary about Clem, not Bollea. Bollea was a party necessary to explain the overall historical narrative of the events, but he is not the subject of the documentary film itself.  

Clem is currently asking for the court to deny the motion for a TRO and to dissolve the one in place due to a “lack of standing.” Clem is also requesting for a dismissal of the complaint by Bollea and McCoy and to award the defendants reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred to defend. A request was also made for an expedited hearing to be held before September 12th release if the TRO is not dissolved.

Clem is also requesting that if the TRO is not dissolved, then it should be altered to allow for the publication and use of the content in the public domain because of fair use law.