Perez Hilton

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Perez Hilton
Image:Perezhilton.jpg
Born	March 23 1978 (age 30) Miami, Florida, United States
Occupation	Gossip columnist, blogger

Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (born March 23, 1978) is an American celebrity gossip blogger. He is known by the pseudonym Perez Hilton and his blog, Perezhilton.com (formerly PageSixSixSix.com), has become popular since its inception. He was born in Miami, Florida to Cuban-American parents and is now based in Los Angeles, California.

Career in blogging

Lavandeira's professional occupations before blogging included some acting work, a stint as a publicist, and writing for gay publications.^[1] He started blogging "because it seemed easy."^[2][3]

On March 11, 2005, within the first six months of Lavandeira's blogging career, PageSixSixSix.com was named "Hollywood's Most-Hated Website" by The Insider, catalyzing an initial surge in its popularity which temporarily crippled its server.^[4][5][6] Lavandeira claimed that on February 19, 2007, in the wake of Britney Spears publicly shaving her head and admitting herself into rehab, Perezhilton.com served over 4.75 million unique visitors in a 24 hour period.^[7]

Lavandeira has also garnered attention from lawyers representing celebrities. For example, he was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for Colin Farrell on July 18, 2005, after posting a link to Farrell's sex tape on his site.^[8] On February 20, 2007, Lavandeira was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Universal City Studios Productions LLP for posting a topless image of Jennifer Aniston that was allegedly "misappropriated and illegally copied" from unreleased footage from the 2006 motion picture The Break-Up.^[9]

It is thought that American pop singer Fergie refers to Lavandeira in the song "Pedastal" from her 2006 album The Dutchess in which she criticizes an unidentified person for making negative remarks about her on the internet. Although he is not named explicitly in the lyrics, Lavandeira has acknowledged that he believes this to be the case.^[10]

Perezhilton.com

On his website Lavandeira posts gossip items about a variety of celebrities. His posts are usually delivered with an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and sometimes even cruel slant. He often posts tabloid photographs over which he has added his own captions or "doodles."

Lavandeira's angle on celebrity gossip includes an unapologetic desire to mingle with and be a part of celebrity culture. As such he often describes celebrity awards shows, clubs, and private events he has attended, and posts photographs of himself with the celebrities he writes about under the "Personally Perez" category of his blog.^[11] Among others, he purports to have befriended Paris Hilton, originator of his namesake and frequent subject of his posts.^[12] Some have suggested, however, that Lavandeira's proximity to the celebrities about whom he writes has led to biased coverage on his blog. It has been noted, for example, that Lavandeira rarely reports on stories or rumors casting Hilton in an negative or unflattering light,^[13] and that, unlike most gossip blogs, he often acknowledges and praises her positive achievements.^[14]

Bloggers, journalists, news agencies and photographers alike have charged that Lavandeira posts photographs and other copyrighted content from their sites.^[15] Lavandeira defends his use of this material by claiming it falls under the fair use exception to the Copyright Act.^[16] On November 30, 2006, celebrity photo agency X17Online filed a lawsuit against Lavandeira in federal court, seeking over US$7.5 million in damages for copyright infringement.^[17] On March 9, 2007, a judge ruled that Lavandeira could continue operating his website while the lawsuit remains before the courts.^[18]

Lavandeira has been known to speak out publicly against the discriminatory behavior of celebrities and other public figures. For instance, Lavandeira called for the firing of Isaiah Washington from ABC television series Grey's Anatomy for making homophobic remarks and called for his readers do the same.^[19] However, in early 2007, Lavandeira was criticized by many bloggers and posters on his site for ignoring racist and homophobic remarks made by Paris Hilton.^[20]

Lavandeira often promotes his favorite up-and-coming musicians by posting streams of their songs under the "Listen To This" category of his blog.^[21] For example, London-based singer Mika's 2007 rise to North American success has been at least partially attributed to Lavandeira's support.^[22][23] Lavandeira and Mika also claim to be friends.^[24][25]

"Outing" celebrities

On July 26, 2006, Lance Bass officially came out as gay, and Lavandeira received criticism for having been partially responsible.^[26] "It upsets me that people think what I'm doing is a bad thing," Lavandeira told Access Hollywood. "I don't think it's a bad thing. If you know something to be a fact, why not report it? Why is that still taboo?"^[27] On November 2, 2006, another celebrity often questioned by Hilton for remaining closeted, Neil Patrick Harris, revealed that he is gay.^[28] Prominent members of the gay community who have criticised Lavandeira's outing tactics include Arts & Entertainment Editor of The Advocate Corey Scholibo, actor Bruce Vilanch, and Damon Romine, spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.^[29]

When questioned on Midweek Politics about whether reporting on celebrities' sexual orientations incites homophobia by making it news, Lavandeira indicated that he simply did not believe so.^[30] He has said that coming out in Hollywood is not necessarily a bad thing, using Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell as examples: "I know there is some controversy about outing people, but I also believe the only way we're gonna have change is with visibility. And if I have to drag some people screaming out of the closet, then I will. I think that lot of celebrities have an archaic fear that being gay will hurt their career but look at Rosie. Look at Ellen."^[31]

Other celebrities who Lavandeira frequently calls on to come out of the closet, despite that many of them maintain they are heterosexual, include Anderson Cooper, Jodie Foster, Kevin Spacey, Clay Aiken, Queen Latifah, Ricky Martin, Matt Dallas, Wentworth Miller, Richard Simmons, and Sean Hayes.^[32][33]

References

Wikipedia information about Perez Hilton This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Perez Hilton". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.