Rich Minx

This is the first in a series of posts about bloggers I would like to hang out with, big or small, with some background about them and their site.

Who?
Perez is the ego behind the super-popular internet gossip blog PerezHilton.com. It is fricking enormous. Perez’s real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. He’s 29 and used to work as an actor and writer for gay publications. He started blogging “because it looked easy”, although he admits he works harder now than ever. He must earn bucketfuls of money, but leads a thrifty lifestyle, living in a small apartment and driving a Honda Accord.

Site Backstory
PerezHilton.com was launched in 2004 under the name PageSixSixSix. It wasn’t all easy; he kept getting fired from jobs for blogging about the gossip he picked up at work, and legal action threatened to be the ruin of him. Instead, it helped promote the site and soon PerezHilton.com was known as ‘Hollywood’s most-hated website.”

Traffic reportedly hit an all-time high when Britney shaved her head in February. In one day 4.75 million people visited Perez’s site!

It’s not all fun and games: he has unsurprisingly been the subject of a few lawsuits involving breach of copyright and defamation. Perez is also lucky enough to have been insulted by Donald Trump recently, an achievement few manage. See video here.

There are truckloads of gossip sites. What makes Perez’s special?

• Perez is a brand. He’s a character himself, a caricature, tall with spiky hair and sunglasses permanently attached.
• His site is a bright pink, action-packed, gleefully childish one-stop shop for gossip. Easily scannable, plenty of pics.
• He’s known for his cheeky and bitchy posts with nasty pics and exclusive gossip.
• He tends to scribble rude labels in white ink across photos. “Whore”, “slapper”, “loser”, take your pick.
• He hobnobs with celebrities (apparently he’s friends with Paris) and attends many award shows.
• His site has constant updates and thousands of comments.
• He’s forever being controversial. People think he crosses the line, but that only gets him more traffic.

What would Perez bring to the table at my bloggers’ dinner party?
Perez has plenty of juicy gossip that would keep the crowd entertained. He’s witty and flamboyant. But he’s also a formerly fat, geeky unknown who made it big, so interesting material there. And hopefully he would be generous with all the freebies he gets.

Why would I come to regret inviting him?
Perez can often be mean. He might insult people and ruin the evening. People might stalk out in fury or start throwing things. I would also have to be very careful how I looked and what I wore. No bunny slippers if Perez was coming.

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