Perez Hilton = bully?

One of my favorite blogs to visit online is PerezHilton.com, who recently has come under a lot of fire. Many know perez as the openly gay, self-proclaimed "queen of media". His blog is labeled as the most hated blog in hollywood. He regularly makes fun of celebrities by calling them unflattering nicknames, drawing on their faces, and insinuating things about them that may not be true. He's infamous for being witty and clever, but at the expense of insulting many people. Being an avid gay rights activist, he has recently addressed the issue of cyber-bullying and the suicides that have been committed as a result. He expresses disgust with those who bully via the internet, and offers resources for those who are victims of the bullying. He seems to feel strongly about the topic, however, he does not address the bullying that goes on every day on his website. While I personally am not quick to call perez a bully, because many of us make fun of celebrities and have our own opinions of them, regardless of whether we know them or not, many have called him hypocritical because of his constant use of cyber-bullying while he tries to stand against it. Because of this, Perez posted a video seen here, where he gets teary-eyed and vows to stop bullying and be kinder to celebrities. He says he used to justify everything as comedy and humor, but does not want to be called a bully. He even went on Ellen Degeneres to proclaim his will to change, which can be viewed here.

As I said before, I do not think that I would classify Perez as a bully in the same way that I would cyber-bullies. However, while I find a lot of what he posts about celebrities funny, mainly because they are all so distant that their worlds feel like an entirely different world from mine, I never thought about how they might feel about Perez's hurtful insults. I always assumed Perez's website was kind of a fun, guilty pleasure for people who wanted to be updated on celebrity gossip. I assumed those who he wrote about never read that kind of nonsense and therefore weren't offended by it. However, I see now that it was a type of bullying, and no cyber-bullying should be taken for granted. It will be interesting to see if Perez really does become "kinder" and whether or not he changes his ways.