Well, I hope you all got your fill of the “McSteamy” sex tape over at Gawker because it ain’t there any more. For those of you who aren’t down on your TV star threeway knowledge, the infamous tape featured Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane, his wife and star of Dead Like Me and a bunch of other things I don’t like as much, Rebecca Gayheart, and “beauty-queen-turned-Hollywood-madam” Kari Ann Peniche in some decidedly NSFW action and garnered all sorts of traffic for Gawker and some of its sister sites. After a lengthy court battle, Gawker has finally relented and taken the video down. Damn! Now we’ll have to settle for one of the millions of other C-list sex tapes out there!

In August Gawker got its hands on a sort of sex tape (there was no actual sex) featuring Eric Dane, his wife Rebecca Gayheart, and “beauty-queen-turned-Hollywood-madam” Kari Ann Peniche. The post got a whole lot of traffic. Shortly thereafter Dane and Gayheart sued Gawker. Turns out they really should have thought ahead.

Gawker publisher Nick Denton twitters about the common thread linking Gawker’s recent powerhouse posts. Perhaps the updated adage should be: a picture’s worth a thousand words, a million clicks, and lots of ad dollars. Also, in at least one case, a million dollar lawsuit.

Have you seen Gawker’s ‘McSteamy, His Wife and a Fallen Beauty Queen’s Naked Threesome‘ sex video yet? The post, which went up yesterday afternoon has currently clocked 1,375,051 views. It’s Gawker’s most-viewed post this year. Last month Nick Denton reinstated traffic bonuses. So who’s cashing in?