Perez Hilton Called Will.i.am A "F*gg*t" Pre-Fight

TORONTO — Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly punched celebrity blogger Perez Hilton outside a Toronto nightclub. Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show.

Molina turned himself in and has been charged with assaulting Hilton, Toronto Police Constable Tony Vella said. Molina is due in court Aug. 5.

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, complained about the incident on the microblogging site Twitter. He tweeted at 4 a.m.: "I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke."

Hilton, who is openly gay, said in interview with The Associated Press that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site.

"He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me," Hilton said. "I was like 'I don't need to respect you. I don't respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'"

Will.i.am said in a video posting on dipdive.com that he came to Hilton with respect and was called a "faggot."

Hilton, who was at the club with Lady Gaga, said he then left the club and was punched from behind. The pop stars and the blogger were among celebrities in Toronto for the MuchMusic Video Awards on Sunday night.

A spokeswoman for the Black Eyed Peas declined comment.

Comments

[allsmilesbubba]

Boom Boom POW! Hopefully, Perez learns a lesson from this incident just as soon as his "career" is over.

[myzenthing]

Isn't Hilton's 15 minutes of fame up yet?

[biged242]

Instead of arresting him, they should have given that tour manager props for "taking out the trash".

[jalowe1957]

Like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly at Fox News, Perez Hilton is to journalism as Michelle Bachmann is to politics: an unhinged loose cannon who shoots from the lip first and then deals with the consequences and the fallout later.

[Crass Innuendo]

I've tried to care, even a smidgen, several times, but now I realize that's never going to happen.

[XCITIZEN]

From PerezHilton.com Part 1-A

From the heart:

"Words can hurt. I know that very well, from both sides of the fence. The other night in Toronto, after feeling physically threatened by a verbally abusive Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, I chose the most hurtful word I know to hurl at him. I was in an out-of-the ordinary situaton and used a word that I would not utter under normal circumstances. My intention - however misguided it may have been - was to stand up for myself and tell this belligerent man that I had enough of his badgering and was not going to continue to let him berate and intimidate me. I wanted to hurt him with the word I chose, not anyone else. Unfortunately, the one who got hurt was me and, subsequently, a lot of other people. I wish none of it had happened. I can't take it back. I did what I thought was best at the moment to stand up for myself in a non-violent yet still assertive way. Clearly, I am not homophobic.

[theclosetconservative2]

Hey Perez. Whatever goes around comes around. He shouldn't have done it but you brought it on yourself. You're always accusing anyone who doesn't agree with you of spewing hate. You should look in the mirror. http://theclosetconservative.com

[XCITIZEN]

From PerezHilton.com, Part 1-B

Also, I am not nor have I ever claimed to be a spokesperson for the gay community. I am just speaking for myself, a gay man. One who is labeled "flamboyant" in the media. An American that is not granted equal rights under the law. I will continue to speak out for equality and I will continue to say things that upset both gay people and straight people. Who I am as a person and what I do for a living are two separate things. I've come to terms with all my incongruities and am proud of who I am and what I do. In closing, words can hurt. But words should not provoke someone to violence. Stripped away from the mask of Perez Hilton, I have been extremely bothered by the public reaction to my assault. Violence should never be condoned with such statements as "It's Karma" or "I don't believe in violence but….". In fact, several television and radio shows over the past couple of days echoed the sentiment "He had it coming". Would they have said the same thing if I was a woman? Would I have "deserved it" if I had been stabbed? Or shot? Or killed?

[antifluff]

Yes there are always those that understand that words can provoke (otherwise we would just grunt at each other). I think some times violets is the best way to settle. It used to be the way small children made friends; they would wrassle around and find strengths and weaknesses and go from there. Today, people think respect is freely given; it has to be earned. If you don't know someone, be polite.

[XCITIZEN]

From PerezHilton.com, Part Two

I was attacked from behind without warning and repeatedly punched in the head in a cold, disgusting and unnecessarily violent manner by Polo Molina, the road manager for the Black Eyed Peas, who I did not even speak with that evening. I did not share any words with him and his assault on me was completely unprovoked. I feel like everything happens for a reason and I leave this traumatic experience as a person with more compassion. Specifically, there was an instance last year when actor Jesse Metcalfe was attacked outside of a Hollywood nightclub by a fellow entertainer. I did not condone the violence, but I did make light of that situation. I regret that. Sincerely. There are many ways to deal with disagreements, both good and bad, but violence is never the answer. Never. I now know that first-hand. It should not be condoned, promoted or accepted. No one "deserves" to be the victim of violence. No one "has it coming." NO ONE. And victims should not be ridiculed. I look forward to marching for equality in Washington, D.C. this October. And I look forward to standing up for my rights in a Toronto courtroom shortly, as I fully intend to seek every lawful remedy against the man that attacked me."

- Perez Hilton
June 23, 2009
Los Angeles, California

[gwensgal]

first of all, where i'm from, boo, if you cain't fight, you keep your mouth shut. you will need that little pearl of wisdom again in the near future, i am sure.

next, you and other overexposed folks need to go somewhere and clarify for yourselves your reason for being public figures. lately it seems that all you're good for is picking unnecessary fights which proves your own abundance of intolerance and vindictiveness and need to be in the limelight. go hiking, go to argentina, go some damn place and get some perspective. until then, you are so dismissed.

[antifluff]

If you don't know someone, try being polite (some thing libs need to werk on).

[discourse jockey]

"I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him"

You knew and you said it anyway, and now you have the audacity to complain.

[XCITIZEN]

Well, if what is written in all of these comments is true, anybody who calls someone a f**got deserves to get their lights punched out, right then and there. Straights, beware, one day we will rise up against your violence.

Gay men experience this kind of verbal abuse every day, and it's virtually without exception from one or a group of straight men, or women, as provocation for an attack.

It is pretty much a given that heterosexuals are cowards when it comes to hurling anti-gay slurs - because they always do it with plenty of other haters around to back them up.

Will.i.am likely sent his manager to punch Perez. So what does that make Will.i.am? Does it make him a man? Hardly.

[TonyG-on-Huff]

Will.i.am's confrontation of Perez -- posturing and intimating threats if Perez continued to write negatively about his band -- is the stuff of which gay harrassment often is made. I cant believe such posturing by Will.i.am and members of his entourage was anything but a not-so-subtle attempt to intimidate Perez because they disrespect him as a, well, "f*ggot."

I'm an out, proud, African American gay man and am familiar with the ways in which gays who are as out and as femme identified as Perez Hilton, often, are treated in African American communities -- i.e., as easy targets who won't push back. Perez, angered, pushed back with his words rather than his fists. Using the word "f*ggot" in this context is not only understandable, but justifiable.

Will.i.am and at least one member of his entourage (the one who physically assaulted Perez) clocked Perez as a "f*ggot" whom they assumed they could push around. Gay men use this word all the time to fight back against those who would so easily label us a f*ggot. We know it sticks in the craw of those who presume us to be the same. Historically, gay men have used it to reflect back to their abusers the hatred and intolerance directed at us.

Spitting back the word in the face of our intimidators and attackers lets those who would intimate or perpetrate violence know, yes, we will stand up for ourselves.

[sherp]

OMGosh, what a picture. This may well be ending Mario, AKA Perez's "career".

[TrippyWeekender]

Look up TRAIN WRECK in the dictionary and his picture is there.

[dphilip]

hahahah, that video of him whining warmed my soul...now THAT is justice..

[OverIt]

Back when Perez thought it was good entertainment to joke about someone getting sucker-punched:

http://img.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/mr_19897pcn_jesse02__oPt.jpg