If Perez Hilton died tomorrow, could you really say he didn’t kind of have it coming? I always did my best to learn as little about him as possible, but this Will.I.Am thing was too much. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Will.I.Am is the lead rapper from the Black Eyed Peas. He made that really fun and catchy “Let’s Get Retarded” song, changed the lyrics to something less offensive, and then became an extremely annoying public persona. Since having two periods in his name wasn’t enough, he appeared as a 3D hologram on CNN the night Obama got elected and unleashed Fergie onto an unsuspecting and defenseless public.
Anyway, Will.I.Am was upset that Perez had said mean things about his new album on his blog, even though Perez is a critic and the album probably sucked. Their argument continued through the night, become more heated, and climaxed when Perez called Will.I.Am a faggot and Will.I.Am’s manager allegedly struck Perez. Now Perez has the physical make up of a fifteen-year-old girl, so either it wasn’t much of a punch or Will.I.Am’s manager is a pussy. Either way, lasting damage has been done to whatever remained of Will.I.Am’s street cred.
Now it’s not okay to hit some one for being gay, for being annoying, or for saying things to provoke you. It’s not even okay if he is guilty of all three. In the court of law, if Perez’s story is true, the manager should be guilty of some type of assault. But that doesn’t change the fact that in terms of pure human decency, Perez deserves much worse. He bragged the next day, in a video blog reminiscent of that kid who cried about Brittany Spears, that he used the term faggot because it was the term that would hurt Will.I.Am the most. Coming from an in-your-face gay activist, it probably set the cause back ten years, but that’s not even the worst part. He purposefully set out to anger some one, and wanted people to feel sorry for him after he got punched in the face. This cannot stand.
The San Antonio Spurs were the most hated NBA team for a long time, despite their incredible fundamentals and character off the court. Their problem was that they had Bruce Bowen, who was one of the dirtiest players in the league in terms of committing fouls without getting caught and Manu Ginobli, who was one of the dirtiest players in the league in terms of flopping and getting the refs to call fouls that didn’t happen. That was bad, but was worse was that when one of their players didn’t get a call, they would react like they were choir boys being senselessly persecuted. The look of righteous incredulity on Tim Duncan any time he was called for a foul was enough to make anyone root for Mark Cuban’s Mavericks.
The point is if you play dirty, no one’s going to have sympathy when you’re the victim of a cheap shot. Perez Hilton makes his living at the expense of other people. His blog is filled with catty criticisms, vicious intrusions into personal lives, and unfounded gossip about celebrities. Some will say it’s simply part of the entertainment business. If you want to take this logic, fine, but realize the nature of the star-smear merchant relationship. With words, a celebrity journalist can ruin a star’s reputation and expose his personal life. A star can only increase a journalist’s exposure or futilely attack his dignity, which anyone who traffics in celebrity gossip abandoned long ago. Fortunately, there is a balance. Because our justice system favors the rich, a star can assault an especially irritating paparazzi and settle out of court for a fraction of his net worth. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn fair. Both sides have their own occupational hazards, which can generally be avoided by not being a total douchebag. If you believe in karma, Perez’s is trading lower than GM stock.
Well put.
Perez Hilton has a big mouth and deserved to be punched.
His page is funny but it’s a bit on the rude and scandalous side, but then again, so is the shit they put in tabloids these days.