Perez Hilton, the celeb gossip blogger who has built a very lucrative brand based on rampant namecalling, outing of the gays and attacking female stars’ femininity, has posted a YouTube statement admitting regret for being so mean and swearing not to be mean to people anymore.

Perez, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, has been blogging for six years about the sleazier side of celebrity. He cites the recent spate of gay teen suicides as the impetus for, as an example, retiring his cruel nickname for Jennifer Aniston. (“Manniston.”) When Hilton struck out at the bullies who had driven the teens to take their own lives, many people pointed out that his brand of blogging was not all that far removed from the kind of harassment he decried.

The penis-sketching in MS Paint blogger also appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show to further explain his commitment to being friendlier without losing the appeal that has made his site so valuable:

“In doing so, a lot of people have called me a hypocrite and a bully myself,” Mr. Hilton told Ms. DeGeneres. He added, “From now on I really want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem…”

“I’m not going to sanitize what I do,” Mr. Hilton continued. “I still want to be me, and be me, and be sassy, without being vanilla — and also without being malicious and hurtful and nasty.”

Reaction to Hilton’s announcement has been mixed, with many people skeptical that the pledge is just a publicity stunt. (If that were the case, it would be extremely insensitive and callous given the reason Perez cites for his change of heart.) I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if Perez can quit being a mean cow cold turkey. Clip below, are you convinced?

Breaking: Perez Hilton swears off meanness and bullying- ‘I can’t keep justifying my behavior!’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

I totally agree with Voldemort’s comment.

[via thedailywh.at]

Epic Voldemort/Perez Hilton Twitter beef is a post from: The Inquisitr

After the uproar last week following Perez Hilton tweeting a pic of Miley Cyrus in what may or may not have been a crotch revealing pose, the drama queeniest gossip blogger has done it again. Oops!

Perez explained on The View that he didn’t feel the image of a still 17-year-old Miley was illegal because he was not posting it for the sexual gratification of others. The internet wept in joy at his almost certain impending downfall, but the Cyruses decided not to press charges. Said Perez:

“I didn’t pick it for her to look like she wasn’t wearing underwear. The point of me choosing that one photo is because it was showing Miley getting out of the car in an unladylike fashion. And I just thought that was funny and in keeping with her shocking behavior of late, because she was very well aware that she was in a public place at a — at a video shoot and that there were paparazzi present.”

He also told the ladies of The View that he would happily tweet another picture of the pop-tart’s hoo-ha:

“I don’t regret what I did and I would do the same thing again … It’s not actually doing anything worse than Miley herself has been doing recently, from grinding up on her 40-something-year-old director to pole dancing to all the over-sexualized things that she has been doing and turning herself into this creature.”

And he did. So either he feels totally assured he’s not going to spend a stint in a PMITA prison, or he’s a total moron. The pic itself isn’t pornographic per se, but it would certainly give a blogger quaking in their pleather boots a second thought about jail. So Perez- really stupid, really really brave or does he have a really good lawyer? Perhaps a bit from each column?

Perez Hilton has lost his damn mind, tweets another racy Miley Cyrus pic is a post from: The Inquisitr

News May 19 that an offer had been made to acquire Perezhilton.com for $20 million has raised some interesting questions about valuing blogs.

Any exit in the tens of millions for a celebrity gossip blog does show that the space has value, but the figure relative to the traffic raises concerns over whether $20 million is a fair valuation.

The Traffic Equation

On traffic alone, $20 million grossly undervalues PerezHilton.com. According to public stats, the site does something in the vicinity of 200-300 million page views a month on 8-10 million uniques.

The uniques figure vs the page views figure is relatively low, which could drive down the acquisition price, but at this level other public stats need to be considered, such as 572 on Alexa and 844 on Compete. That’s a reflection on the reach PerezHilton.com has, even before we get to the influence the site has over Hollywood Gossip.

Consider that ContentNext (the publishes of Paid Content) were acquired for $30 million and they do 600,000 uniques a month: sure, celebrity gossip doesn’t convert as well in ads, but does the $20 million for PerezHilton.com sound fair by comparison?

The Personal Brand Fail

Mario Lavandeira has done an amazing job with the Perez Hilton brand, but it’s a catch 22 when it comes to selling the site: blogs closely affiliated with a person are devalued by the link, vs a stand alone brand. Although Perez Hilton isn’t Lavandeira’s real name, it’s the name he uses everywhere he goes, so it is intrinsically linked to him; you couldn’t simply swap him out and give someone else the name.

The question then becomes one of how the site would go without Lavandeira there. Content is the easy part: by all accounts the site is now exclusively written by ghost writers, so not having Lavandeira there to write wouldn’t change much. The hard part is assessing how much of the sites success is due to Lavandeira’s self promotion skills vs the quality of the site.

My suspicion is without Lavandeira the site would still be successful, but not nearly as much as it is now.

Simple Money Math

One unique thing about PerezHilton.com is that we can make an educated guess on how much money the site makes as the ad rates are publicly available on BlogAds.com

The taller ads take $10,000 a week, and the smaller ads take $4000, with next to no discounting for longer buys (the monthly rate is the same as buying 4 single weeks.) There’s 7 x $10,000/ wk and 1x $4,000, so say $74,000 a week. We’ll call it $70,000 a week as there are some smaller non-US ads running, and to allow for slower weeks.

That’s roughly $225,000 a month. He pays for writers, hosting, admin, accounting and legal, which is hard to put a price on but say $50,000-$100,000 /mth range, meaning the site nets at least $100,000 a month, if not closer to $150,000.

At $100,000 a month, that puts the acquisition price of $20 million at 20x monthly net. That’s not a good number for a premium blog buy; 8-15x monthly net is a multiple for a standard, fairly ordinary blog, not a premium blog like PerezHilton.com. Presuming the $100,000 net figure is right, I’d put the price on the site of something closer to $30-40 million, so a 30-40x multiple on net. I’ve seen blogs sell though for up to 80x net, so it could potentially be worth more.

That said, given the aforementioned personal branding problems and inherent risk in the acquisition, 20x might be a reasonable enough figure, be it a surprising one.

I Wouldn’t Hit It

Suitors Avid Media know the business well, and are well qualified to run the site, however if I had the money to spend I wouldn’t use it to buy PerezHilton.com. The brand is too linked to Lavandeira, and inserting Zack Taylor and Nik Richie in to run the site and write for it is a recipe for fail. Richie has been successful running The Dirty, but there’s a distinct difference in style. Zack Taylor is a lesser known quality: a better fit perhaps in writing style, but running a site with an Alexa rank of 180,000 odd with a .ca address doesn’t exactly shout “I’m capable of running PerezHilton.com,” does it

Conclusion

From a blog market perspective, the attempt to acquire PerezHilton.com is interesting because top of the market blogs rarely come into play. I’d suggest that while the $20 million might undervalue the site, it’s not a site that would be easy to sell, nor particularly a desirable acquisition.

Lavandeira would be mad to turn down the offer, but likewise given the leverage it offers him, I doubt he will accept it either.

Valuing Blogs: Is $20 Million For PerezHilton.com The Right Figure? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Avid Life Media, the parent company of esteemed web properties like HotorNot.com, Mancrunch and married-people dating site Ashley Madison, has put in a $20m bid for PerezHilton.com, Gawker has verified.

The company, who is said to have paid roughly the same amount for HotorNot.com in 2008, has teamed up with celebrity bloggers Zack Taylor (zacktaylor.ca) and Nik Richie (TheDirty.com)- sending a Letter of Intent with the $20m offer. ($18m up front and $2m in escrow for the next year.)

The offer, presented by “Avid Life subsidiary Eight Days Inc., along with Zack Taylor and Dirty World LLC,” seems to suggest Perez may not be as involved with day to day operations of the site as he may be now- Gawker quotes the letter:

The letter states that “The Purchaser presently intends to continue, in the normal course, the employment of all employees of the Business from and after the Closing Date.” But it also says that following the purchase, Zack Taylor and Nik Richie “will operate the business.” It’s our understanding that the intention is to use the PerezHilton.com address as a sort of massive traffic-forwarding address to a new gossip site run by Taylor and Richie.

Gawker asked what Perez’s future involvement with the site might be if he accepts the offer, but Avid Life spokesperson Steph Davidson said she could not comment because she didn’t know for sure what the celebrity blogger’s role would be if the bid is accepted.

Perez hasn’t commented on the offer yet or whether he intends on taking it. PerezHilton.com was valued at $32m last year, but $20m is a tremendous incentive for Perez to cash out and move on.

Gawker: Avid Life Media bids $20m for PerezHilton.com is a post from: The Inquisitr

There have been a lot of hints over the past month about heavyweight gossip blogger, Perez Hilton, setting up a new friendlier site. The ‘Queen of all media’ has teamed up with Henry Copeland, founder and CEO of the ad agency who manages ad sales for Perezhilton.com.

The content on Perez’s new site will be less snarky, more mainstream and more advertiser friendly. Articles will be longer, toned down from the snark and graphic doodles on celeb photos we’re all used to seeing on his current site. It will appeal to a younger, female demographic, an area where major sites and portals have been falling all over themselves to get a piece of the lucerative ad revenue.

Back in June, Mediapost.com broke the news about Perez’s new venture, quoting Henry Copeland as saying Perez has “this genetic link with 26-year-old women.”

MSNBC recently revealed that the launch of the new site will be happening later this summer:

“He will also go live with a ‘cousin’ site by the end of the summer; Copeland says there’s already a major sponsor lined up for the site’s debut.”

Perez, who’s current site garnered some 260,000,000 pageviews in June, will certainly see some major success with his new venture. He’s a master of getting attention, both negative and positive and we can’t wait to get a closer look at what the new site is all about.

Perez Hilton to expand gossip empire with new mainstream site is a post from: The Inquisitr

Celebrity Gossip Perez Hilton has confirmed what many have been speculating for quite some time – He’s launching his own Recording label imprint with Warner Bros.

In an interview with EW, Perez is quoted as saying:

“I have an ear, which is really important in the music world — to be able to hear a hit and to be able to know who has a good song or not. I’m more than just an A&R person. I’m also a marketing person. I’m also a manager.”

Perez, who says he’s announcing his first artist before the end of the month, has been highly influential in helping launch the careers of several musicians, including Lady GaGa and the Black Eyed Peas. He posts about new artists or song releases occasionally on his blog which gets an estimated 250 million views a month.

Perez Hilton Launches New Recording Label with Warner Bros is a post from: The Inquisitr

Perez Hilton has revealed his site’s traffic numbers for June 2008 and they are staggering.

First, here’s a quote from the earlier post over at PerezHilton.com:

Last week, was our busiest week ever on the site!

And, the month of June was our most visited month in the website’s history.

According to Sitemeter.com, we had 268.9 million page views last month.

That’s insane!!!!

Our previous record was 249.9 million in February of this year.

And, just a year ago, in June of 2008, we “only” had 207.3 million page views for the month.

268.9 million page views in 30 days for June 2008. Let’s break that down and do some rough guesstimates:

268,900,000 / 30 days = 8,963,000+ pageviews average per day, or 373,000 pageviews per hour, which is more than most sites on the internet could hope for in a month, but I digress.

Lets look at some possible revenue figures. If Perez is getting on average about $5 gross per 1000 page views, a very conservative estimate, monthly gross revenue for the site would come in at about $1,344,500 per month. Since a site the size of PH would more than likely have special deals with advertisers, plus the fact that the main agency on the site is Blogads, that $5/1000 would more than likely be up near the $10/1000 (possibly more) which would effectively double gross revenue to somewhere in the range of $2.5mil to $2.7mil. per month.

The numbers are rough with a lot of guessing involved, but it’s safe to say the Queen of all media is no slouch financially and is running a $15mil – $20mil + per year business, which is probably more than a lot of the stars he snipes at are making.

Not bad for a snarky celebrity blogger drama queen

A Look Inside PerezHilton.com Staggering Traffic Numbers for June 2008 is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a statement on his website, Perez Hilton formally apologized to the gay community for using the word “faggot” in an argument with Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, the same argument that resulted in him getting punched in the face by the Peas manager, Polo Molina.

In that same apology, Perez wrote that he was sueing Molina for $25,000 in damages because of the incident, and that he’d donate the proceeds of the suit to the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an organization that strives to replace hate with understanding and acceptance in the face of diversity.

Well, since Hilton’s recent fight was (in part) brought on by his choice of hateful and discriminatory language in Toronto, the Matthew Shepard Foundation does not want his money. In a statement posted to the Matthewshepard.org site:

The Matthew Shepard Foundation was surprised to learn this morning via media reports that blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) has announced he plans to donate, to our organization, the proceeds of a lawsuit he is contesting over an altercation which has been widely reported in recent days.

We had no advance notice or contact from Mr. Hilton or his representatives regarding this proposal, nor any communication since he posted this plan to his website.

We do not know the details of the lawsuit, whether it has been filed, the nature of his claims or the likely outcome. But because the lawsuit presumably involves the physical attack prompted by Mr. Hilton’s admitted use of an anti-gay slur, the Foundation will be unable to accept any funds obtained in such a manner.

We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.

While we applaud Mr. Hilton’s apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people’s attention the consequences of hateful or intolerant language.

Judy Shepard
Chair, MSF Governing Board

Matthew Shepard Foundation doesn’t want Perez Hilton’s Lawsuit Money is a post from: The Inquisitr

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has dived to yet another record low this week by initially accusing Michael Jackson of faking the heart attack that lead to his death.

In a post now pulled from Perezhilton.com (see below), Hilton said he found the heart attack “dubious,” said that Jackson had pulled similar stunts before, and concluded that Jackson was either lying, or purposely making himself sick.

Calls for a Perez Hilton boycott are already gathering steam, with users disgusted by the whinny blogger encouraged to post to Twitter under the tag #unfollowperez.

For our previous coverage, see Michael Jackson dead and Remembering Michael Jackson.

Perez Hilton Michael Jackson post

(via Mashable)

Perez Hilton claimed Michael Jackson faked heart attack is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Perez Hilton assault video released June 22 allegedly showing the moment Perez was punched was grainy and hard to follow, but a new image from the scene clearly shows the point of impact.

The Perez Hilton getting punched image, first published by drinktheglitter.com shows the moment a fist connects with the side of Perez’s head. What’s interesting about the image is that it shows that the impact occurred during a scuffle that had already begun, where it was believed before that the scuffle was a result of Perez getting punched. The photo also shows that the punch wasn’t well aimed, and may not have seriously connected with Perez; certainly we know that Perez wasn’t punched in the front of the face or with any direct force a direct shot would have had.

In related Perez Hilton news, the whinny celebrity blogger is filing suit against Will.i.am’s manager for $25,000 in damaged for the assault.

The Perez Hilton getting punched photo above (full shot) and below (close up.)

Photo shows Perez Hilton getting punched is a post from: The Inquisitr

Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die is on a role lately with topical and often funny pisstakes, and their latest hits the mark well.

Breckin Meyer and High School Musical hunk Zac Efron star in a will played spoof of Perez Hilton’s infamous whinny “I was attacked” video.

Enjoy:

Win: Funny or Die spoofs Perez Hilton attack video is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kelly Clarkson has weighed in (no pun intended) on the Will.i.am/ Perez Hilton drama by saying that she is surprised Perez hadn’t been hit before.

Clarkson said in an interview (video below) that as much as she doesn’t condone violence, Perez had it coming. Clarkson went on to note that given Perez is mean to kids like Miley Cyrus, no one will be upset by him being hit.

“You’re mean to children! No one’s going to pity you” said Clarkson. “I do not think violence is the answer, but what do you expect? I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already…I’m thinking how much did will.i.am pay his manager to do that?”

Here’s the interview:

(via PopCrunch)

Kelly Clarkson on Perez being hit: I’m surprised it hadn’t happened before is a post from: The Inquisitr

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has always been a polarizing figure. People love him or hate him, but no matter what your opinion of him, you can’t argue that he has been wildly successful.

While I may not be a huge fan of his style, I’ve always respected the guy for what he’s done with his site. Perezhilton.com does more traffic on a good day than the combined total of tech blogs TechCrunch and Mashable do in a month, and in that regard it’s phenomenal. But that respect can only go so far, and the current carry on over the Will.i.am “assault” is enough to make me consider ritual suicide.

It’s time for Perez Hilton to STFU.

I get that his thing revolves around him not being shy in being opinionated, but if you physically scream at someone in person that they’re a faggot, you’re asking for a beating. I’m not justifying that Perez should have been hit, because as Perez himself whines, violence is never acceptable. But likewise, was the outcome really that surprising? If anything, Perez is lucky he didn’t have the shit beaten out of him.

The context aside though, it’s what Perez has done after the event that has really turned this story around. The melodramatic video where Perez plays the oh-so-wronged victim is so gratuitously over the top I felt sick after watching it after 30 seconds, and I couldn’t get past the 2 minute mark without turning it off. Instead of gracefully playing the victim and allowing others to sympathize with him, his stupid attempt to manipulate the situation actually makes people wish he’d been hit harder.

Of course the drama here could all be part of a carefully orchestrated stunt to gain more attention and pageviews (fake fights are part and parcel of the tech blogosphere for example), and in that regard maybe it will work our for Perez. But at this stage I’d bet the short term spike in traffic may come at the cost of a dramatic loss of goodwill, and that will eventually come back to bite him.

It’s time for Perez Hilton to STFU is a post from: The Inquisitr

Perez Hilton has managed to parlay his assault at the hands of will.i.am’s manager Polo Molina into more drama and more attention by rowing with gay and lesbian activist group GLAAD.

Paul posted the video in which Perez Hilton was allegedly assaulted by Molina. Although who socked Perez is not necessarily clear, the controversial blogger can definitely be heard lobbing the f-bomb at the Black Eyed Peas manager. Not that f word- the other one, a word that openly gay Perez should arguably find offensive and abhorrent.

Of his transgression, Perez says:

“And that is when I made the split-second decision – that I was gonna say what I thought was the worst possible thing that thug [will.i.am] would ever want to hear. As I was standing my ground – without being violent or physical which I would never do – I told him – and you know what? I don’t need to respect you and you’re a f**. You’re gay and stop being such a f***ot.”

One might wonder why a gay man would find it okay to use homosexuality as the gravest insult available to him. GLAAD released a statement condeming the mouthy blogger, saying:

“These are vulgar anti-gay slurs that feed a climate of hatred and intolerance toward our community,” said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD. “For someone in our own community to use it to attack another person by saying that it is, quote, ‘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 anti-gay attitudes.”

“We have reached out to Hilton and asked him to apologize for promoting this anti-gay slur, and we would ask media outlets to avoid repetition of the slur in their coverage of this story.”

But Perez is not having GLAAD’s not having it. Refusing to tolerate their intolerance of his intolerance, he told TMZ that if anyone should be apologizing, GLAAD should say sorry to him for “further victimizing” him:

“I am saddened GLAAD chose to victimize me further by criticizing me for how I non-violently dealt with a very scary situation that, unfortunately, turned violent. While I doubt I will get an apology from GLAAD, nor do I expect one, I would just hope people know how difficult it is to intellectualize a situation and think rationally when a thug disguised as a musician is screaming at your face and intimidating you. I am just very fortunate and grateful that nothing more serious happened to me.”

Before hitting it big with his eponymous blog, Perez was a media relations assistant for GLAAD.

Perez on GLAAD apology demand: No, you! is a post from: The Inquisitr

In Kim’s post earlier, she told you about how Perez Hilton was attacked at a Toronto club. Well now we have video of Perez being assaulted.

Apparently Perez Hilton began getting mouthy with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and the scene erupted into chaos with both will.i.am and the Peas manager, Polo Molina, going after the celebrity blogger. In the scuffle, Perez got punched in the eye and was bleeding. Polo Molina later turned himself in to Toronto police attacking Perez.

Well that assault and the moments leading up to it was recorder by a witness who was right there when it happened. Of course, when video like this is in demand, TMZ ends up with it.

Perez Hilton Assault Video

Here’s an extremely amateur and grainy video taken while Perez Hilton was being assaulted at a Toronto club after the MuchMusic video awards.

Raw Footage Of Perez Hilton Getting Snuffed In The Face

Perez Hilton Assault Video Surfaces on the Web (VIDEO) is a post from: The Inquisitr

Following a panicked tweet at 3am, Perez Hilton has posted a statement regarding the “attack” he described, allegedly at the hands of Will.I.Am’s bodyguards.

Calling Will.I.Am a “coward” and a “disgusting human being,” Perez does his best Chris Crocker impression and unleashes his righteous outrage. Speaking under his real name, Mario Lavandeira, Perez describes the incident that came to everyone’s attention via Twitter around 3AM EST. Perez originally tweeted:

I was assaulted by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.

Still waiting for the police. The bleeding has stopped. I need to document this. Please, can the police come to the SoHo Met Hotel.

The drama started at the MuchMusic Awards, with some minor confrontations between Fergie and Perez over, not surprisingly, comments Perez made on his blog. The brouhaha spilled out to an after party and lead to the alleged assault at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto.

Perez’s angry statement, branding Will.I.Am a “thug,” reminds us all that he will not be silent! Then Perez Mario tells of calling the rapper “a f*ggot,” leading up to the eye-punching and the blood and the tweeting. He wraps up with some real tears and a sobby thank you to everyone who undoubtedly clogged up Toronto emergency response lines, reminding Will.I.Am that God is shaming him! Shaming him! And he reiterates that Fergie is “fugly.”

Not to be outdone, Will.I.Am hastily put up a Twitter account and video response. The shaming goes both ways, as Will.I.Am shames Perez, too:

“Shame on you, shame on your behavior, and that’s just messed up.”

He charmingly concludes with “how you stop that?”

UPDATE: There’s now a video of Perez Hilton being assaulted. Watch the Perez Hilton Assault Video Here!

Perez Hilton attacked! is a post from: The Inquisitr

Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black has apologized over the release of photos showing him have unprotected sex with an unnamed man.

The photographs published by Perez Hilton have raised questions about both about Black’s stance on safe sex, and Hilton’s choice to publish them.

“It is unfortunate that individuals and other outside parties are trying to profit from material which is clearly private” Black said in a statement. “I have had the privilege to speak to people across the country, both gay and straight, on a number of critical issues including safe sex. More important than the embarrassment of this incident is the misleading message these images send. I apologize and cannot emphasize enough the importance of responsible sexual practices.”

Hilton himself though has come in for even more criticism, with critics saying that he has crossed the line. Some argue that as children read the site, the pictures are inappropriate.

While somehow I don’t think Hilton could really care less what the critics say, and has probably just had a massive surge in traffic off the back of the pics, it is a rather courageous move. These pics aren’t your standard soft core titty shots, but full on anal and oral man sex. The problem from a blogging perspective is that advertisers can be prudish at the best of times; these shots are another level again, and Hilton could seriously damage advertising relationships. The short term traffic spike may come at the cost of lost advertising opportunities.

I’m not even going to go close to running even part of the shots. If you must see them, click here, and a serious NSFW on the link.

Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black apologizes over unsafe sex photos is a post from: The Inquisitr

The California Supreme Court has voted today to uphold the controversial Proposition 8 that prevents same sex marriage partners from having the same benefits as “Opposite” or male/female married couples.

Gay and Lesbian people in California and across the United States are stepping out tonight and gathering in strategic locations to protest the archaic bill and bolster their outrage at being denied what they believe should be their rights as married couples, regardless of whether their partners are the same sex or not.

Perez Hilton, one of the most prolific and powerful gay rights activists online has used his influence to help rally the troops on his blog by pointing to a site that is coordinating the efforts.

Perez and some of his celeb friends will be at this demonstration in West Hollywood tonight. PLEASE join us!

Time: 7:00 pm this evening, May 26th
Place: 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard
Santa Monica and San Vicente Blvd
West Hollywood

After the rally, some will be marching towards another demonstration at Hollywood & Highland at 9:30 PM.

There will be some speeches at the West Hollywood rally, and everyone is encouraged to wear white.

Bring signs, bullhorns, ribbons, chalk, anything you want to make noise.

But, most importantly, just show up!

[Photo: Adam Bouska]

Proposition 8 Upheld in California – Gays Protesting across U.S. is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m one of the last people on the face of the earth who will defend the National Association of Marriage (NOM), the group who claims that gay marriage will ruin freedom and kill traditional marriage. However, I’ve long been fond of a quote from US Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, a former United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court: “The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with, and even pay for, a good deal of rubbish.” That quote for me even trumps the famous quote wrongly attributed to Voltaire (which I support none the less): “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

It’s in that regard that I take umbrage at a gross violation of free speech from someone who should know better: Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton. NOM has launched a new ad attacking gay marriage that includes exactly three seconds of Perez attacking Miss California, then later in the clip shows Hilton, but only on part of the visual. We’d embed the YouTube clip, but there’s a problem there (see pic above): Perez has slapped a DMCA claim on the clip. Instead we have no choice but to link direct:

Whether you like the ad or not is irrelevant: the three seconds of video from Perez constitutes fair use under US copyright law. But the irony is rich here, because here’s a guy who has been sued numerous times for among other things, using third party material on his site. I don’t seek to argue for or against those lawsuits, only to make a clear point: when is it fair for Perez to use third party material for commercial gain (fair use or not), but not fair for a group like NOM to use three seconds of a Perez clip? Hypocrisy 101.

The sad thing is that in issuing the DMCA, Perez will likely help NOM drive more traffic and exposure to the ad (see Streisand effect.) Further, in making a false DMCA declaration, Perez may find himself sued by NOM, and although I’m not a lawyer, I’d bet their chances of winning would be pretty good. Perez as a champion of gay marriage could well be silenced by his own stupidity here.

Perez, you probably won’t read this, but if you are: withdraw the DMCA claim before it gets messy. There are many, many people who support your question to Miss California and your stance on gay marriage, but let the critics have their say in the same way you do. Trust me on one thing: they are their own worst enemies and you actually want this stuff out there, because it proves how stupid their argument is.

Ironic: Perez Hilton uses DMCA to silence NOM is a post from: The Inquisitr