Perez Hilton, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media, has propelled his eponymous Web site to the top of the list of celebrity gossip sites while simultaneously becoming a household name himself. The former small-time actor and freelance writer makes a point of not only blogging about the stars but also befriending and mingling with them. As a result, Perez Hilton isn’t just a gossip hound, but also worthy of being gossiped about on other sites and blogs.
“Hollywood’s Most-Hated Website” is the tagline beneath the Perez Hilton banner, and it’s a moniker he’s earned from his no-holds-barred style of biting celebrity commentary, in addition to his controversial penchant for outing previously closeted gay celebrities.
Part of Perez Hilton’s signature style consists of scrawling crude commentary and drawings across celebrity photos in the vein of sports commentators. Hilton might write “Hawt!” across the chest of a favored hunk or scribble a rudimentary drawing of a rude body part onto a hated actress. The additions to the pictures also serve as a preventive way of keeping other sites from nabbing Hilton’s photos.
The photo-to-text ratio is heavy on the site, with Hilton keeping his commentary primarily limited to sarcastic one-liners, doodles and text-speak. Spelling and grammar take a backseat to humor and shock value, a fact that hasn’t stopped the site from growing over the years into one of the Web’s hottest properties.
Personal opinion is integral to the Perez Hilton site, and it doesn’t take long for his favorites to become evident. Paris Hilton (to whom his name is an homage) and Lady Gaga frequently receive accolades, while less-liked celebrities, such as Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus, rarely catch a break.
Perez Hilton’s rise to success hasn’t been without legal troubles, particularly regarding copyright infringement charges by other media outlets for content used on the site without permission. Most notably, X17Online sued Hilton for the illegal use of photographs, which he claimed were used fairly because he altered them for satirical effect. The suit was ultimately settled out of court, but Hilton’s Web host dropped him over liability worries.
In his own words, Perez Hilton claims to hold himself to high standards for gossip: “The standard that I hold myself to, that is a high one, is to print the truth. I won’t print something that I think is speculation or conjecture. I don’t engage in that discourse. I trade in the commodity of information, facts, details!”
