After Perez Hilton was punched in the face, he took to the interwebs to play the victim. He said he didn’t think about the consequences of his action of calling Will.I.Am a “fucking faggot.” It took two statements on his site, but Perez finally apologized. Sort of. Well, not really. He still played the victim and said violence should never be the answer. He even blubbered like an idiot on video. The whole thing is pretty reminiscent of that annoying kid in school who thinks he can hurl abuse at people, but whines incessantly when he gets beat up. That’s Perez Hilton. The kid in school no one likes.
Anyway, Perez’s comments drew the ire of GLAAD who called for an apology. Perez didn’t apologize to them, of course (although he did say he “could care less about them”). He merely released a self-serving statement apologizing to the gay community that he has single-handedly helped soooo much and promises to never use the F word again. He also vowed to donate any money won from his lawsuit against Polo Molina, road manager for the Black Eyed Peas and guy who punched him, to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
Oh, but wait.
The Matthew Shepard Foundation doesn’t want his money. A statement released by Judy Shepard reads:
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.
We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.
While we applaud Mr. Hilton’s apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people’s attention the consequences of hateful or intolerant language.
To sum it up. Judy sees through Perez’s bullshit and has decided to turn away his blood money. And you know that parade Perez plans on marching in in D.C. this October? You’ll know exactly where he is because he’ll be surrounded by a ten foot radius of emptiness as if he had the bubonic plague. Perez is basically an outcast of both the gay and straight community. Even a hungry pack of wolves would steer clear of him at this point.
