Is Perez Hilton A Traitor?
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
news
11:00AM, Friday June 19th 2009
Earlier this month, when extremely explicit, triple-X photos of gay “Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black were leaked onto the internet, Perez Hilton (real name: Mario Lavandeira) was one of the first bloggers to post them, in their NSFW entirety. Well, over on Huffington Post, Mike Alvear is calling Lavandeira a traitor for elevating Black “to the hook pinatas swing from” and that posting those photos—“guaranteed to repulse Straight America”—for everyone to see “took a guy who’s helping millions reconcile faith and family with their sexual orientation and turned him into a porn star.” I couldn’t agree more, but it should come as no surprise to anyone that Lavandeira is a creep.
Black, as Alvear reminds us, delivered an incredibly moving Academy Award acceptance speech, directed at gay and transgendered youth. Black said:
“I think [Harvey Milk] would want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.”
These words quickly established him as a rising star in the gay movement, a role Lavandeira has attempted to “establish” for himself—most notably in his obnoxious campaign against the equally obnoxious Miss California, Carrie Prejean, because of her stance on gay marriage. When someone like Prejean and Lavandeira are the spokespeople in the debate over gay marriage, we all lose. Posting those highly private, viciously leaked photos of a man who isn’t even a high-profile celebrity like Rihanna or Colin Farrell, and is primarily someone who just wants to do good in the world, is further proof that Lavandeira’s primary goal in life is not fighting for the rights of gay men, women, and teens, but to accumulate pageviews that eventually translate into dollar bills. [Huffington Post]
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Simosa
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:11 am: [report]
I was completely put out that Perez posted those photos. It was just plain mean and I had no idea what cause it furthered except Perez’s personal need to capitalize at Dustin’s expense. I felt awful for Dustin that someone he was involved with would do such a thing to him.
However, on a positive note…I did think Dustin (as did his lover) had s super super beautiful penis. I decided that this scandal would be quickly forgotten or at least that the scandal part would be an after mention in a discussion about how beautiful Dustin’s penis is. Not so if the penis had not been so perfect.
Amelia McDonell-Parry
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:13 am: [report]
@Simosa Now that is some silver lining!
abbylyn
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:21 am: [report]
I agree that he’s a creep for posting the photos. However, I also notice a lot of linking back to Perez Hilton’s website in the “daily/quick notes/etc” posts on this site. So why continue to support such a creep by directing more traffic to his website?
Amelia McDonell-Parry
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:23 am: [report]
@abbylyn You know, I’ve been thinking about that…maybe we won’t anymore. And, in truth, he’s not that good at scooping other sites anymore either.
moonblossom
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:26 am: [report]
Just cause Perez is gay doesn’t necessarily equate to him being the spokesperson for the gay rights movement. And yes he is a creep. And based on all the comments I’ve seen/heard…I don’t think those pics repulsed ALL of straight america
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:26 am: [report]
@amelia: I won’t lose sleep over it.
subpar
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:29 am: [report]
I didn’t hear about this until now, but that is seriously evil. And catty. There’s no room for “friendly fire” in this debate.
@Simose You are awesome.
shannac02
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:36 am: [report]
@Moonblossom: Perez has labeled himself a leader in the “no to H8” movement as well as the movement for gay marriage. It’s not just because he is gay, that he is automatically a “leader”, but he has used his notoriety to bring attention to these issues, therefore establishing himself as a leader and spokesperson.
I HATE him, but I totally respect the work he’s doing against Prop H8 and putting gay marriage into the mainstream, I just don’t like the way he accomplishes things.
emflow
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 11:39 am: [report]
I’ve always thought of Perez as basically an attention-whore.
My problem now, is that I would love to look up the pictures of Black & his boyfriend (when I’m not at work). But, I feel uncomfortable about furthering the exposure of photos that may be causing a lot of hurt & distress.
resullins
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 12:13 pm: [report]
I actually don’t know which way to turn on this one… Perez is a media whore, we can all pretty much agree to that. But he’s honest about it… he always says that if you are famous, and have EVER been photographed or filmed naked, it WILL get leaked. He’s right. I don’t see this as any different than anyone else getting their exploits leaked.
I totally think that DLB is an owesome person though, and I feel bad that he got hurt by someone that supposedly supported and respected him as a gay-rights crusader. But it’s still his job.
I will however, NEVER read him again if he continues to kiss Lady Gaga’s ass at any given chance. Oh, and everyone should support the NO H8 campaign, it’s doing good things!
moonblossom
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 12:16 pm: [report]
@shannaco2 - Maybe true, but I could declare myself the queen of england too. That doesn’t make me the queen. Perez is nasty. Just cause he occasionally has moments of clarity or decency doesn’t make him a leader. He’s notorious for being a nasty POS and exploiting the weaknesses of others. That doesn’t a leader make…IMO.
His fame is perhaps more a comment on the sad state of our current obsession w/celebrities and their sex tapes than it is on his leadership of anything.
shannac02
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 12:20 pm: [report]
My point was… He has established himself as able to make changes, but is turning on the people that he claims to try to protect… He’s a sleazeball, but he gets things done.
chouette
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 12:32 pm: [report]
I used to read Perez pretty often, but when I saw the photos I decided to boycott. DLB isn’t a fame seeking trashy celebrity like a lot of the others Perez exposes- he is (was?) a role model and Perez shouldn’t have taken advantage of an unfortunate situation. I think it really does prove that Perez is only after $$. I know I would never have seen those photos if Perez hadn’t posted them. And DLB’s partner sucks for releasing them.
GreenAura
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 01:11 pm: [report]
I really don’t want to play devil’s advocate here because I don’t think Perez had a right to post those pics, but where can I see the photos? I wanna see this so-called “beautiful” thing that Dustin is carrying around…
Humble Bee
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 01:44 pm: [report]
LOL. GreenAura, me too, hehe.
Perez is the real life mean girl. You know how they have that book and they write mean things on People’s pictures, like whore, skank, tranny, etc.
mividavegan
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 02:32 pm: [report]
I was appalled when I saw these photos on his website. I’d also like to remind you all that he was also one of the first to post the bruised and battered Rhianna photos when those leaked. He took them right from TMZ to share with his readers. Mario seems to be quite a crass man, and as much as I enjoy the occasional reading of his website, he’s not someone I would ever befriend.
snap
wrote on June 19 2009 @ 02:35 pm: [report]
i have to agree with resullins.
Isista
wrote on June 23 2009 @ 06:38 pm: [report]
I’ve always found him an attention-whore. I love the work he tries to support with his anti-H8 campaigning, but then he comes out and talks sh!t about celebs who have done nothing wrong just to get pageviews.