Thursday, June 25, 2009
By Lauren Beckham Falcone

Poor Perez Hilton. The gossip maven got an owie when Black Eyed Peas’ road manager gave him a Boom Boom Pow in Toronto this week.

And we’re supposed to feel bad . . . why?

“Violence is not the answer,” blubbered the blogger from his bed a day after the punchfest.

That depends on the question.

Do you traffic in celebrity humiliation? Out gay celebs before they’re ready to go public? Draw bodily fluids on your site’s photos? Call people you don’t agree with dumb (expletive)? Traffic in Internet intimidation? Treat misogyny like a major-league sport?

When the biggest bully on the blogosphere gets a beat down, it’s not surprising there are cheers from those who’ve been on the business end of his virtual vitriol.

Hilton, nee Mario Lavandeira, got the stuffing knocked out of him after calling B.E.P. frontman will.i.am a gay slur at a Toronto party.

Instead of calling 911, Hilton Twittered the incident, asking his lemmings to do the dialing for him. (The Toronto police got calls from as far away as China.)

Both will.i.am and Hilton took to their Web cams to tell their sides of the story. will.i.am denied any wrongdoing. Hilton’s 11-minute rant ended with profanity calling Fergie a fugly (expletive).

Charming.

Hilton was shocked, shocked, shocked when singer John Mayer called it “karma,” Kirstie Alley Tweeted will.i.am “You are my hero” and Kelly Clarkson said, “If you dish that much out, you better be able to take somethin’.” Even the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation demanded Hilton apologize for using “a dehumanizing and inflammatory” word. (Isn’t Hilton the same guy who launched a crusade to get “Grey’s Anatomy” ’s Isaiah Washington fired for using the f-word?)

“I have been extremely bothered by the public reaction to my assault,” he wrote on his Web site perezhilton.com Tuesday night. “Violence should never be condoned with such statements as It’s Karma or I don’t believe in violence, but . . .”

But . . . verbal abuse? Open season for Hilton. The self-proclaimed Queen of All Media is the Dean of Defamation.

The Internet has always been an opinionated free-for-all for anyone with a laptop.

But you poke at people enough, and you pay the price.

For Perez, it was a knock to the noggin. Let’s hope it slapped some sense into him.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1181105&format=&page=2&listingType=col#articleFull