Perez Hilton was featured in Chicago’s Red Eye again yesterday for his penchant for outing closeted movie stars. He sees nobility in his efforts to force celebrities to publicly announce their homosexuality. It seems vindictive to me. And in the case of someone like Anderson Cooper who is a journalist first, I think forcing him ‘out’ could endanger him when he is reporting from overseas in a country that would rather execute a homosexual. Being a celebrity or artist implies a certain amount of artifice so a closeted celebrity really isn’t that big of a deal – compared to a politican where artifice, facade and hypocrisy can become entertwined. There’s nothing wrong with being homosexual. At the same time I don’t think there’s anything wrong with privacy (and wacky as it seems, some people still believe in that outmoded notion of modesty). Perez feels having a public persona exchanges your right to privacy.
"Even though what I’m doing can be harsh at times or biting or cynical . . . in my own subservient way I am trying to make the world a better place," he said. "I will push the envelope. I’m not afraid to offend or be dangerous, whatever. Because I can. It’s my Web site. I can do whatever I want."
Perez says that he thinks his work led to the magnitude of Lance Bass’s outing (Ron still thinks Reichen is out of his league). Or is he just building his own career on the backs of closeted B-list celebrities? I was perusing People magazine while I waited for Maria at the barber shop (#1 on the sides, short on top) and I was surprised how many bloggers are now among their correspondents – I guess it makes sense since bloggers are much more obsessed with trends and celebrities than ‘traditional’ writers.
I do like how Perez knows that this notability could dissipate at any time and is running the marathon as fast as possible to secure as many deals as possible while he is a hot item. And I’m sure that he’s got a good finance guy on staff – we all know what happened to Hammer.
I still wonder when Sean Hayes and Clay Aiken come out of the closet what they expect will happen. Talk about a yawner. Aiken on Larry King was a complete nausea-fest.
Dad and I watched Dr. Phil together whilst home for the holidays. I was surprised how far the show has sunk and further surprised that Harpo (I think they still produce the show) is letting that happen. I think Dr. Phil let the steam out too fast. His line of nutritional supplements was a really bad idea – too much too soon.
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