Perez Hilton is apologizing for the gay slur he hurled at Will.I.Am and his camp, which incited Sunday night's melee after the MuchMusic Awards in Toronto.
He's apologizing with an asterisk, however.
GLAAD, the organization who asked the celebrity gossip lightning rod for an apology a couple of days ago, is deliberately excluded from Hilton's mea culpa.
Perez says he's totally sorry for using the f-word that resulted in him getting assaulted (by Polo Molina, allegedly) and says he'll never use the word again.
He continues to insist that he, the victim, should not be mocked for getting his ass whomped, clearly upset that no one feels sorry for him after all this.
Below is the apology Perez posted today. He simply wrote this one, rather than recording another lame video statement (which Zac Efron spoofed earlier).
Do you agree with what Perez says?
"People make mistakes. I have made many in my life, but this past week I have made more than I can count on one hand.
I am sorry. And I mean it. No one is forcing me to write this.
I am not feeling pressured to say this. I am speaking out because I realize that the last few days have been more hurtful to me - and many others - than the repeated blows I suffered to my head in Toronto this past weekend.
I have been filled with incredible sadness and regret.
I am sorry that any good work I have done for promoting equality may be tainted by me reclaiming a hurtful word - that's been personally used against me and the gay community - to hurt someone that was verbally attacking me. It was stupid.
Apologizing for me is not easy. Writing this was not easy. Life is not easy. But everything happens for a reason and I will take away valuable lessons from this.
Violence is never the answer. Never. Victims should not be mocked.
The "F" word will never be uttered from my lips again. Just as others use the "N" word to insult and hurt - or as part of their everyday speech - I challenge them to remove it from their vocabulary as well.
Hindsight is always 20/20, they say. I should have been the bigger man and walked away from an unfortunate situation. Instead, I chose - in a very misguided way - to stand up for myself and only made things worse by how I - under pressure, anger and extreme emotion - handled the situation.
I am sorry.
I am NOT apologizing to GLAAD. I could care less about them, my former employers.
I am apologizing to the gay community, to anyone who was hurt by my my choice of words, and to all the people who have ever emailed me to thank me for all that I have done to fight for gay rights over the last few years.
I have reached out to Isaiah Washington, someone I incorrectly labeled a homophobe in the past, despite his own public statements that he was not.
I will be donating any money collected from my lawsuit against Polo Molina, road manager for the Black Eyed Peas, to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
And I will continue to speak out for equality and support the great work done by LGBT organizations, such as LAMBDA Legal and HRC.
Sincerely,
Perez
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12 Comments
June 25th, 2009 12:16 PM
I don't buy it!! Perez used the offensive gay slur because he was "under pressure, anger and extreme emotion"? NOW he's reaching out to Isaiah Washington? Victims should never be mocked? So, if I'm under under pressure or anger I can use the Nword, Fword, slam Jews, call people who approach me "thugs", and then apologize? If it's not in your heart it doesn't come out of your mouth. (Mel Gibson) Especially when you say you PURPOSELY used a word you KNEW would hurt him. Which means you thought about it. Victims shouldn't be mocked but when Jesse Metcalf was attacked physically Perez mocked him on his web site. Shouldn't he be apologizing for that? Perez is a liar and opportunist. He sees his faux career fading away and now he's "reaching out" to people with highlighted "I'm Sorry". Playing the "gay victim" doesn't fly. I say we boycott his Advertisers. Everytime I see his wall papered Advertisers like TVLAND, I will not support them. Perez is a hypocrite. YES, people make mistakes. But this is an angry apology. He won't apologize to GLADD? Why not? If he is sincerely sorry, what difference does it make. He's not humble or contrite. And it's insulting to compare himself to Mathew Sheppard. INSULTING. Donations to the Mathew Sheppards fund should NOT come from publicity whores who use the SAME WORD and viciousness that killed Mathew in the first place. INSULTING AND CLASSLESS PEREZ. PROTEST HIS ADVERTISERS.
June 25th, 2009 1:15 PM
I agree kg. I will no longer support the advertisers that promote him .
June 25th, 2009 1:30 PM
I find this whole thing deeply offensive. Having volunteered for the past three years at a womens' shelter, I have seen women and children whose lives have been destroyed by violence.
For a grown man (who has chosen to spend so called career deriding and aggressively provoking others) to consider himself a victim makes me want to vomit.
June 25th, 2009 1:39 PM
carinne good point. feeling like a victim doesnt mean you are a victim. good for you volunteer.
kg do you know a list of advertisers on perez website? i would totally boycott anyone who supports this douchebag.
June 25th, 2009 3:58 PM
haha nice shiner.
really good job with the makeup, Perez!
June 25th, 2009 4:23 PM
This is seriously a PR thing.
He realises that everyone is sick of him, and publicly mocking him for this whole pathetic 'victim' act.
He put up a huge fight over this whole thing for the past few days, and threw a hissy fit when glaad said he was wrong for using the word.
He is a huge hypocrite, and he will not change....his ways will not change and neither will his website.
he is pretending to now be enlightened and sorry? where was this immediately after the incident? it took him this long to realise he made a mistake....and to apologise?
hard to believe.
I think this is all about protecting his money making. He knows that the majority of people will be suckered in and feel sorry for him, and accept his apology.
If he really felt bad, he would want to retreat from the public eye for a while, and drop the lawsuit. He was the instigator of the fight, and he hurled insults....you can tell when you are pushing someone to the point of violence....if you are dumb enough to proceed with those actions, then look out.
remember how perez wrote that he was better than everyone else on here because he had money? and he would recover from this and we would go back to our miserable lives??? thats the REAL PEREZ.
don't be a sucker and fall for this FAKE apology. buyer beware.
he is not a victim.
June 25th, 2009 4:28 PM
perez is socially and emotionally immature and underdeveloped for his age. He is emotionally stunted....and shoud seek counselling.
I am not sure if I even believe he personally wrote that apology, there weren't enough spelling errors in it for it to be real.
I think his PR agent wrote it for him....or at least edited it....
would be funny to see the original version...
The PR guy asked him to write an apology for using the gay slur, and instead he wrote a rant about how much money he had and how he was the victim and wah wah wah....and then the PR guy edited it and this is what we were left with. LOL
I bet thats what really happened.
June 25th, 2009 6:35 PM
hes stupid
June 25th, 2009 6:48 PM
PaLeeeeeeze Perez... I aint buyin' it.
You, Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and other such public hypocrits (p-hipos) get just what you deserve... to be "outed" for your real selves. You get NO SYMPATHY from me. My advice to you, "Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut."
June 26th, 2009 9:48 AM
have my baby perez. b my baby dady. u r so cool and u need to sue that bad man for hurting u. violins is never anser know mattr wat. evryone says pea is rite and u rong but that cause it kool to suport da black man an not the gay but i disagre cause he be startin truble when all u did was be at party and they come up in u face to start trouble. don let him mak u feal bad an he on parole so put his meen self in jail !