Screenshot via JohnnyIkon.com

Yesterday, when the news came out that Michael Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be transported to the hospital, a very mean-spirited post suggesting the star was faking his illness was published on Perez Hilton’s site. Two of you e-mailed me about it, (Jesse and Jenny thank you) and it’s been mentioned in the comments.

Many people still assume that Perez writes all his own stories, but you can tell by the tone and different style of the posts that he has at least one other contributor. One person writes short posts with a lot of stupid commentary and exclamation points while Perez writes slightly longer stories that are still asinine but have a sprinkling of intelligence mixed in with the meanness. I’ve read articles that claim that Perez has other writers now and even saw a story by someone last year who claims to have written for him without being credited. (Let me know if you can find the link to this, it’s hard to google as they just hint heavily that it was Perez but didn’t use his name.) Perez, as we mentioned yesterday before this controversy, doesn’t admit he has other writers at all and never credits them by name. I feel that this is unfair to both the people who work for him, and to the readers, who don’t get a chance to get to know the writers and their personalities.

The following article was posted on Perez’s site and quickly reworded when the news came out that Michael Jackson passed. While I shouldn’t defend Perez at all because he should take responsibility for his writers, especially since he takes all the credit for their work, I don’t believe that he personally wrote this based on the style of the writing. The article included a photo of Michael Jackson as the header with the words “Heart Attack or Cold Feet?” scrawled across the top.

We knew something like this would happen!!
Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance from his Holmby Hills home to a nearby Los Angeles hospital on Thursday afternoon!!
Supposedly, the singer went into cardiac arrest and the paramedics had to administer CPR!!!
His mother is even on the way to visit him!!!
We are dubious!!
Jacko pulled a similar stunt when he was getting ready for his big HBO special in ‘95 when he “collapsed” at rehearsal!
He was dragging his heels on that just like his upcoming 50 date London residency at the 02 Arena, of which he already postponed the first few dates!!!
Either he’s lying or making himself sick, but we’re curious to see if he’s able to go on!!!
Get your money back, ticket holders!!!!

[From Perez Hilton.com, now removed but partially cached at MyProps.com and Gigulate.com - thank you Jesse!]

After this story was published, the tone of the articles on the site changed and became more measured with less ridiculous dismissive commentary. It looks like Perez scolded the person and took over at this point.

It’s very hard to find decent writers, but if anyone submitted an article to me of the quality that I’ve seen on Perez’s site I probably wouldn’t even bother to respond to their e-mail. The stories are mean, poorly written, and patently offensive. Many people are blaming Perez for this article, and if the furor gets loud enough I would guess that he’ll finally admit that he has other people writing for him. He wants to take all the credit for their work, but it’s doubtful he’ll take responsibility and accept the knocks that come along with that.

In other Perez news, the Matthew Shephard foundation has said that there’s no way they’ll accept any kind of donation from a guy who defends using the anti-gay f-word as somehow “reclaiming” it as a put-down. Perez is suing the guy who hit him for calling Will.i.am a “f*g” and said he’ll donate any proceeds to that lawsuit to the Shephard foundation. Matthew Shephard was a young gay man who was killed in a hate crime and many of you have pointed out that the intended donation is yet another way for Perez to paint himself as a victim:

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.

[From The Matthew Shephard Foundation, thanks YT for the tip]

They go on to point out that “epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case.”

It looks like Perez’s week just got a little worse. Unlike Perez, I don’t wish harm on anyone and hope he learns a lesson from all this to change the style of the writing on his site.