As I was surfing the internet tonight. satisfying the craving of my insomnia, I came to a realization: If people hate gossip magazines and paparazzi for invading the lives of celebrities, why the hell do we all love Perez Hilton so much?
Granted, Perez does have more consideration for others than the typical grocery store shelf gossip rag. He even corrects his posts that turn out to be untrue, showing us that he has some sort of integrity. However, some of what he writes can be seen as downright disrespectful and in poor journalistic taste. For example, Perez has coined the word “sperminated,” to refer to pregnancy. I have two problems with his rampant use of this term:
1) Its just gross. When I see a pregnant woman on the street, I prefer to think about how cute and round she is and how she walks like a penguin, my favorite member of the animal kingdom. I really don’t want to be thinking about sperm. And, I think people’s fascination with the microscopic swimmers really has to stop: bodily fluids are not something that I would like to read about on a daily basis.
2) If you are going to draw attention to celebrities, that’s fine, they have openly chosen a career path that comes along with these kinds of social hazards. But pregnant women? It is a well-understood fact that added stress during a pregnancy is not good for either the mother or the baby. I am sure a bunch of people following you around in the grocery store trying to snap a picture of your swollen ankles is…wait for it…stressful. Don’t encourage this, Perez. You have all the Lindsay Lohans of the world to talk about– leave the preggos alone.
Another issue I have with Perez is his nearly constant coverage of celebs in and out of rehab. Don’t you think being scrutinized on a very public website could drive these people to resort back to their addictions? I thought his coverage of the tragic death of DJ AM, a man Perez referred to as a “friend,” was done is very poor taste. If a close friend of MINE had passed under such tragic circumstances, I would be in mourning as well as supporting the people around me who I knew were close to said fallen friend. I found myself taking Perez’s sorrow with a grain of salt due to his constant coverage and updates regarding the circumstances of the DJ’s demise. Perhaps Perez is not the light-hearted funny man that we all take him to be.
All in all, I think Perez Hilton is fairly harmless and relatively entertaining. I would be more satisfied with his work if he cited his sources a bit more, but I understand that in his specific line of journalism (I am using this term lightly), outing his sources could cost him what has become a lucrative career. I find Perez clever and quick witted at times, yet I still find myself wishing that he was putting his NYU education to better use.
