Hulu's Pam & Tommy puts a spotlight on Seth Rogen's Rand Gauthier. What happened to the electrician in real life vs. how the show portrays him?

Here’s what happened to Seth Rogen’s Rand Gauthier in real life, and how accurately he and his actions are portrayed in Pam & Tommy. The eight-episode Hulu limited series attempts to reconstruct the events surrounding the true story of the infamous stolen/leaked sex tape featuring Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) and Pamela Anderson (Lily James). Apart from focusing on the titular characters, Pam & Tommy also looks into the motivations behind Gauthier’s actions, mapping his trajectory to a considerable extent.

The real-life events that revolve around how exactly the tape was stolen are admittedly wild, as Gauthier intended to steal the couple’s six-foot-tall Browing safe solely for its valuables. After cracking the safe open with a demolition saw, Gauthier chanced upon the Hi-8 tape in question, which he distributed for profits soon after with the help of adult film store owner Milton Ingley (portrayed by Nick Offerman in the show). As the real Gauthier’s actions were driven by a sense of revenge, the show refines this motivation by painting him as someone who equates his actions to a spiritual armageddon of sorts. Thus, Pam & Tommy gets the true story largely right, while making a few changes.

While the basic tenets of the controversial scandal are common knowledge, the lens of scrutiny, over the years, has unfortunately fallen on Tommy and Pamela, who were completely blameless in the situation. An extremely private home video was made public without their consent by a man who has not received comeuppance for his actions to this day. Here’s what happened to Rand Gauthier after the tape went viral, and how Seth Rogen’s character compares to the real man.

Did Rand Gauthier Profit Off The Tape In Real Life?

After coming across the contents of the tape, Gauthier, along with Ingley, struggled to secure funding due to the stolen nature of the tape. After all of their distribution contacts refused to make deal with them, Ingley turned to mob boss Louis “Butchie” Peraino, who was known to have financed the release of the controversial adult film, Deep Throat. This incident is dramatized in Pam & Tommy, wherein Butchie is initially reluctant to finance the endeavor but does so eventually on Rand’s insistence, shelling out $50,000 to the duo to cover operational charges. Much like the real Rand Gauthier, Rogen’s character earns minimal profits in the beginning, as he “owned” a coveted artifact that people were willing to pay for without question.

However, things went downhill for Gauthier from then on, as the popularity of the tape inevitably led to the circulation of bootleg copies, which neither Gauthier nor Ingley could put a stop to as the tape was essentially stolen goods. While Ingley fled the country and purportedly went to Amsterdam to squander the rest of Butchie’s money, Gauthier was stuck, penniless, and in hot water with Butchie, as he had no means to return the gangster’s loan. As a result, Gauthier was forced to collect debts from people on his behalf, essentially acting as muscle, even going as far as splashing ammonia on faces and breaking collarbones, as per his 2014 interview with Rolling Stone. In the end, Gauthier did not make any profits from the tape at all, which, in his own words, added insult to injury.

How Pam & Tommy Portrays Gauthier’s Motivations

Per the real Gauthier's professional bio, he is deeply interested in religious belief systems, the concept of karma, and the tropes of magic and symbolism in esoteric cultures and systems around the world. This aspect is incorporated by Seth Rogen’s Gauthier from the get-go, as evidenced by the books he carries with him in his van while working in Pam & Tommy’s Malibu mansion. While the real Gauthier said that the couple had unjustly fired him and refused to pay out the $20,000 they owed him, the show only holds Lee responsible, as Pamela is not seen directly involved in the events surrounding the electric/construction work in the house.

Coming back to Gauthier’s belief in karmic cycles and retribution, this pays a seminal factor in his plan to rob Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in episode 1, “Drilling and Pounding,” as he believes that he is simply balancing the scales and the “universe” has his back throughout. Moreover, Seth Rogen’s Gauthier plans out the heist with a sort of righteous zeal, as if he is carving out a path of spiritual salvation for himself, going as far as naming the heist “Operation Karma” and his lookout van “Paybach Carpet Cleaning.” The show offers a dual perspective for Gauthier's actions: on one hand, the robbery is objectively justified, given Lee’s absolutely terrible behavior and refusal to pay a man already struggling on an economic level, on the other, there is no justification for Rand profiting off the tape, as this has greater implications about consent, privacy, and objectification.

As explained by Rogen himself, Gauthier’s actions do not stem from calculated evil, but rather a total lack of empathy, as he gives zero thought to how the contents of the tape could potentially traumatize the people involved. Pamela Anderson's career, especially, was negatively affected by the tape. Despite acknowledging the extremely private nature of the tape, Gauthier decides to capitalize on it anyway, but it is perhaps karma that stops him from profiting off of it in any manner in the end.

What Happened to Gauthier After The Scandal

While Gauthier’s fate is expected to play out in a markedly different way in Pam & Tommy's story, the real Gauthier apparently still works as an electrician in Santa Rosa, California. The 2014 story stated that he owns a marijuana farm in his garage, while details about his latest whereabouts suggest that he is the owner of an electrical services company, and is working on his own book about religious symbolism and magic. How Hulu's Pam & Tommy intends to etch Gauthier’s arc remains to be seen, as there is still a glimmer of hope that he will own up to his actions, at least on a fictional level, and at the very least, repent for the absolute hell he unleashed on Lee and Anderson.

NEXT: What Pam & Tommy Should Leave Out From The True Story

Pam & Tommy releases new episodes of the limited series Wednesdays on Hulu.