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By John Mitchell Posted Oct 13th 2010 11:35AM
Perez Hilton, the famed blogger who's made a name for himself (and racked up some pretty massive Internet traffic) with his no-holds-barred style of celebrity reporting, has vowed to change the direction of his website so that it no longer includes material that could be deemed as bullying.
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres set to air today on her talk show, the blogger says that the recent suicides of several young gay men and his involvement in raising awareness to fight the anti-gay bullying that caused them has led him to rethink how he approaches his own reporting.
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"Over the last two weeks I have been doing everything I can to bring awareness to the teen suicides and gay bullying," Hilton tells DeGeneres. "In doing so, a lot of people have called me a hypocrite and a bully myself and a big one ... From now on I really want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem."
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Hilton is notorious for his outlandish and often vulgar style of reporting celebrity news. He is known to crudely draw inappropriate things on pictures of celebrities – things we can't even put into words on this website! – and has invented a host of callous nicknames for a variety of stars, including Jennifer Aniston, who he refers to as "Maniston," and Lindsay Lohan, termed "Lindsanity" on his blog, a reference to her ongoing legal troubles and substance abuse issues.
The blogger is perhaps most notable for bullying stars not because they are gay, which the openly gay Hilton celebrates, but for his attempts to "out" celebs he believes to be in the closet. Hilton has long justified the practice by stating that the more public figures who come out as gay the more society will be tolerant of homosexuality; however, he has often dismissed a star's right to privacy as something they give up in exchange for celebrity.
It was Hilton, after all, who succeeded in forcing Neil Patrick Harris out of the closet in November 2006 after requesting that men who had been intimate with Harris contact him to tell their stories. When Harris, who was at the time (and remains) in a long-term relationship with actor David Burtka, caught wind of Hilton's attempts to force his hand, he chose to come out to PEOPLE. When asked about Hilton's campaign by OUT in 2008, Harris said, "I'm just glad it wasn't based on scandal. I didn't want there to be some 'we got footage' story where I have to make some sort of statement about some event that happened. But I'm not that scandalous."
The tragic death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly live streamed footage of him engaged in a private act with another man, has recently been a major topic of discussion for Hilton. While the circumstances are slightly different – a public person vs. a private person, a teenager vs. a thirtysomething man – it's difficult to not see that, in many ways, Hilton at one point in his professional career actively sought to do to Neil Patrick Harris what Dharun Ravi did to Tyler Clementi – make his private life public by placing details of his most intimate moments on the Internet for the world to see.
And Hilton himself isn't immune to slinging anti-gay hate speech. In June 2009, the blogger got into hot water with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) when footage of him calling Black Eye Peas singer will.i.am a "f*ggot" emerged following an altercation between the two at the MuchMusic Award in Toronto. Hilton alleged that he was attacked by a member of will.i.am's entourage, and responded by saying, "you're not a f**king artist ... you're a f**king f*ggot."
GLAAD did not hesitate to call Hilton out: "For someone in our own community to use it [the term f*ggot] to attack another person by saying that it is 'The worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear,' is incredibly dangerous. It legitimizes use of a slur that is often linked to violence against our community. And it sends a message that it is OK to attempt to dehumanize people by exploiting antigay attitudes."
Beyond his controversial approach to GLBT issues, Hilton has also been admonished for misogyny for his treatment of women, particularly for shaming female celebrities for their ages and perceived bodily imperfections. Feminist blog Jezebel has led this particular crusade, and at one point regularly featured Hilton in a recurring column that dealt with unfair representations of women in the media. Hilton famously went after Tyra Banks when an unflattering photo of her in a bathing suit surfaced, and frequently attacks – with the utmost vitriol – Jennifer Aniston, who he calls MANiston and uses his blog to perpetuate the tabloid narrative that the actress is "lonely" and "desperate."
(Seriously, we don't have time to catalogue the insults he slings at famous ladies, but if you have some time and a high threshold for reading unnecessary attacks on an Oscar-winning United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, look to posts on his site tagged Nicole Kidman, who he called a "Botox queen" and wished a happy 60th birthday – she's 43. Also, check out the love he has for former Miss California Carrie Prejean. We didn't agree with her either, but calling her a "dumb b*tch" isn't exactly the height of political discourse.)
More recently, Hilton nearly found himself under fire after he tweeted a upskirt photo of Miley Cyrus, a 17-year-old girl he likes to refer to as "****ty," and of whom he recently asked his readers, "Who wants to take bets that Liam will knock her up before she turns 18?" Conflicting reports said the photo showed Cyrus' private parts as she exited a vehicle on the set of a music video, others said she was wearing underwear. He later apologized (but not really).
The point is that if Hilton is sincere in his promise to stop his own special brand of cyber bullying, it is going to require a complete overhaul of his web presence. He's built his brand on insulting celebrities for their appearance, age, presumed promiscuity and personal choices with regard to making their sexuality public. With the exception of the few stars he loves – Madonna, Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie, upon whom he lavishes nothing but affection – he is the entertainment media's very own Regina George, a fever dream nightmare who, if you gathered every celebrity into a gymnasium and asked them if they've ever felt personally attacked, would inspire every hand in the room to rise into the air.
http://www.popeater.com/2010/10/13/p...lton-bullying/
I'm proud of him! It must be hard to realize all the bad things he's done and said. To acknowledge them and grow is really impressive. I hope he comes far. 