December 2, 2009 - 1:00am
The media might finally be tiring of the profane, misogynistic blogger Perez Hilton . On his Dec. 2 interview on “The View,” the five female hosts of the show relentlessly fired at him from every angle, ranging from his exploitation of children to his infamous reputation of outing gays. This was especially surprising considering the way Hilton has been treated by the media elite in the past.
For years, broadcast and cable networks and even newspapers have presented Hilton's offensive blog – dubbed a “tastemaker” by the LA Times – as harmless and entertaining. In 2007, ABC's Jake Tapper called it “snarky, amusing, cool and fishy,” and, in 2009, CBS correspondent Erica Hill called Hilton's commentary “a little tongue-in-cheek, maybe some snide remarks here about some perhaps not so flattering moments.”
Today, though, during his appearance on “The View,” Hilton might have finally realized that his love affair with the media won't last forever.
At the outset of his interview, Sherri Shepherd questioned Hilton for his notorious attempts to “out” gay celebrities.
“Do you think that's right to do that?” Shepherd asked.
“I don't like to call it outing,” Hilton replied. “I call it reporting because it's facts. It's the truth.”
Shepherd countered, saying, “But if it's their private business and you put it out there, now they have to go out and make an announcement. Do you think that's right?”
At this point, Hilton reverted to the tired argument that “when you're a public figure, you kind of have no private life anymore.”
Unfortunately for Hilton that brought in the agitated Whoopi Goldberg who said, “No, no, no, Perez. I tell you this every time I see you! I tell you this: You are, in fact, entitled to a private life.”
Goldberg then asked Hilton if his views on privacy included “kids.” She was, of course, referring to Demi Moore accusing Hilton of peddling child pornography after he posted offensive photos of Moore's 15-year-old daughter, Tallulah Willis, back in September.
“There were provocative photos of [Moore's daughter] and you posted a link for it,” explained Elisabeth Hasselbeck (who Hilton calls Elisabitch on his blog). “Demi was pissed and she tweeted about it.”
Hilton argued back that the girl's a “public figure” because “she's an actress.” To which Shepherd and Hasselbeck responded in unison, “She's a child.”
Shepherd then turned to another sore subject, saying, “You wrote a lot of controversial things in your book. One of the things you said was 'nobody cared about Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett until they died.' Now, this man [Jackson] has some of the best-selling albums in the history – in the world. How could you say that?”
Hilton falteringly replied that for the past few years Jackson had been “mainly known for, you know, not his music and that's the truth.” But by now perhaps Hilton felt like he needed to appease the lion's den because he quickly added, “But now it's all about the music. And he was on his way towards a comeback, definitely.”
Hilton also called the Kardashians and the Gosselins “faux-lebrities,” which led Goldberg to ask, “Are you considered a faux-lebrity?”
“I hope so,” Hilton replied. “I'm working hard at it. I'm on 'The View.' Hey!”
“Whoopi, what does that say about us?” quipped Barbara Walters. “From Afghanistan to Perez Hilton.”
“We're eclectic,” Goldberg replied dryly.
As for Hilton, maybe the timer on his 15 minutes of fame is winding down.
