The folks at Entertainment Weekly see little wrong with the tabloid exploits of blogger Perez Hilton. The fevered mind behind Perezhilton.com, a site that makes US Weekly look like The Economist, gets a glowing feature article in this week’s edition. The mag allowed Hilton, known for scribbling angry/hateful/pornographic images all over celebrity pics, to decorate his own portrait with terms like “Zexy,” “Faboosh” and “Hawt.”
But that’s nothing compared to the kid glove treatment Hilton gets in the accompanying text.
For the uninitiated, Hilton runs one of the most popular tabloid sites on the Web, and his most recent claim to fame was grossly insulting Miss California, Carrie Prejean, after she dared to oppose gay marriage during the recent Miss USA pageant.
EW’s profile touches on some of Hilton’s more outlandish behavior and notes the disdain he inspires in some PR circles. It also recounts his recent skirmish with the manager of the Black Eyed Peas which left him bruised and beaten (Hilton called group singer will.i.am the “F” word which inspired the altercation).
Hilton claims the Black Eyed Peas incident “matured” him. So a follow-up question on the Prejean matter seems more than appropriate – unless the magazine didn’t think such a mea culpa was even necessary.
The magazine doesn’t bother. Nor does it bother to ask Hilton his thoughts on President Barack Obama’s position on gay marriage (Obama’s against it). Would Hilton, now a gay rights figure to some, call the president the same names he labeled Prejean? Why or why not?
That might make for an illuminating discussion, but EW would rather pump up Hilton, excuse his excesses and use his hateful site as a way to sell magazines.