The controversial documentary, “Video Killed The Radio Star” is going to premiere despite legal efforts to prevent it.
On Friday, a press release was sent out to officially announce that the Bubba The Love Sponge documentary covering the Hulk Hogan sex tape scandal will go forward as planned after a court cleared the release of the project.
From our story here at WrestlingHeadlines.com on September 10 covering Hulk Hogan’s son Nick Hogan filing a lawsuit to stop the Bubba The Love Sponge documentary from being released:
Nick Hogan has filed a lawsuit against radio host Bubba the Love Sponge, according to TampaBay.com. The case centers around an upcoming documentary about Hogan’s infamous sex tape scandal and the fallout from it. The film had a screening in Florida this week, which Brooke Hogan attended.
The official description for the Bubba the Love Sponge documentary as listed currently on Apple TV reads as follows:
Video Killed the Radio Star
Documentary · 2025 · 2 hr 30 min
When a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan and the wife of his best friend—radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge® Clem—was leaked online, it ignited a media firestorm. You’ve read the headlines. Bubba recorded it. Gawker published it. This shocking documentary unpacks the lies, the betrayals, and the lawsuit that rewrote the rules of privacy. But the resulting fallout had much greater consequences than just Hogan crushing Gawker. You think you know the real story. You don’t know anything.
Featured below is the complete press release issued today with all of the details on the court clearing the release of Bubba The Love Sponge’s “Video Killed The Radio Star” documentary:
Judge Denies Attempt to Block Documentary on Hulk Hogan’s Sex Tape Scandal
Court Clears Release of Video Killed The Radio Star Documentary After Lawsuit Fails
TAMPA, FL (October 3, 2025) – A federal judge has cleared the way for the release of Video Killed The Radio Star, a feature-length documentary that reveals how Tampa’s cutthroat radio rivalries spiraled into one of the most infamous celebrity scandals in history. The ruling affirms the film’s use of minimal clips from the Hulk Hogan sex tape is protected under the fair use doctrine, clearing the way for distribution.
The lawsuit, brought by Hogan’s son, Nicholas (“Nick”) Bollea, and Terry McCoy on behalf of the Estate of the late Terry Bollea (known professionally as Hulk Hogan), sought to prevent the film’s release. The court found the plaintiffs lacked authority to file the lawsuit at the time of their initial complaint. The court further ruled the documentary’s inclusion of 38 seconds of footage from the video in a two-and-a-half-hour feature is “overwhelmingly likely” to qualify as fair use, and noted plaintiffs’ attorneys omitted relevant adverse case history, including Bollea’s earlier failed attempts to secure similar injunctive relief in the same federal court.
“Concerns raised by the Hogan estate about the documentary were misplaced,” said producer Ian Longen. “Instead of highlighting the sex tape scandal, the main point of the documentary is to expose how Hogan was used as a pawn in a Tampa-based radio war involving shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge® Clem, and the unintended consequences that followed from the unauthorized publication of the Hogan video.”
Video Killed The Radio Star, a gripping 150-minute look at power, betrayal, and fame, situates the Hogan scandal within the backdrop of Tampa’s shock-jock “radio wars” of the 2000s, when personalities like Bubba the Love Sponge® reshaped the boundaries of talk radio and celebrity culture. Through never-before-seen interviews, behind-the-scenes accounts, and archival footage, Video Killed The Radio Star examines media ethics and the cultural fallout of a scandal that began as a local feud but spiraled into a flashpoint that ensnared the world’s most famous professional wrestler and, ultimately, the 47th President of the United States.
The documentary premiered on September 12 on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Google Pay, and is available for purchase or rental.
