Your Asshat of the Week: Perez Hilton

Really? Do we need this poll? Is this a new "feature" on Afterelton? Isn't there enough negative everywhere? I am not commenting on or defending any of the "nominees." I love Afterelton for the positive articles and stories you have daily. This is truly one of my favorite sites and visit a few times a day. But this is suprising and sad. PLEASE don't let this become a regular part of this awesome site.

I realize this is a pop culture website and all, but really? The person who most pissed you off this week is Perez? That's kinda sad when people are dying in the streets to even have a glimmer of the freedoms we share. It is a luxury that we even have a Perez Hilton to defame. Some others aren't so lucky.

 

Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn't "special" to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

After watching how heated the last two AOTW competitions got, it occurs to me that, while I like a good political argument as much as anyone, if it BEGINS at calling people asshats and goes from there, it probably doesn't do anyone any good.

That said, I'm not going to call for it to be done away with.  If people enjoy yelling at each other, knock themselves out I guess, as long as it stays in the appropriate threads.  But I think I'm done participating.

At least you got it right this week.

So the winner of this award can either oppress us (President Obama) or embarrass us (Perez Hilton).  Seems fine to me.

That's big embarrassment of Bitch-queen Perez Hilton!   If I throw a biggest party for gay men, I don't  invisit him  to my place.  my bearish bouncers will throw his ass out to  street!

if some of ya'll have such a problem with AOTW, then you can either choose not to engage in it or....oh wait, choose not to engage in it. whoa, that doesn't seem so hard. try not to break a sweat

I am also really sick of people acting like we dont think the killings in iran are important. of course they are. you want my opinion? i think the leaders over there are freaking whack jobs who i would love to show them a taste of their own medicine. they're MORE than asshats. that title doesn't even do them justice, when you think about it

another thing....the iranian government and the people who run it are probably never going to change their way of thinking....it will probably be years or decades before that happens. so, okay...i can call them asshats right now. they'll still be killing people tomorrow and the next day after that and the weeks to come. it's just a stupid "title" - - it doesn't really mean anything. i dont think perez hilton or anyone on this feature really gives a shit. after all, we're just commenters on blogs.

so once again...you dont like this? then dont bother voting. you think the way we vote is screwed up? well, fine. it's not something serious. we're not trying to change these people. I personally see it as a way to vent, which i am doing right now. you vote for who you wanna vote for and i'll vote for who i wanna vote for.

 

 

Asshat of the Week is one of my favourite features of AE. Because of the choices that Dennis makes for the candidates, readers have to make a decision that's going to express their political/religious/moral/ethical philosophy when they vote.

As a result of that, the debates about who deserves the title are more concentrated and can cover a lot more ground than debates on other threads. I've learnt a lot over the last couple of weeks from this feature and I've really enjoyed the passion on display.

It's a simple idea for a feature, but it's elicited some great responses (whether or not I've agreed with them) and if some people really don't like this feature, the easiest thing for them would be to not read it or contribute to it.

I think this is a brilliant feature of the site and I'd be sad to see it go.

The last two weeks this feature has run there has been a ton of discussion here. I think at last I looked there was 51 comments alone! I think this was a really interesting social experiment about how some of us see this as a pop culture discussion and others as a political one. I personally like the feature and enjoy the debate, as long as it is kept without personal attacks.

I would ask to change the name since a lot of the comments cited the name as offensive. I am personally fine with it but others aren't. I would title it more towards either Court Jester to make it even with the Gay Of The Week crown or maybe even the old parade trash sweeper  or Dunce Cap image.

I voted for Perez this week. I later re-thought that decision, in light of the discussion here, and because since he has apologized, I have already forgotten Perez. I think he won this week, because he is more in our face thanks to the media. The struggles in Iran are important, WAY more important than Perez, but he's what we're all talking about. As someone above said, political asshats are asshats day in and day out. I saw this poll as being more about a weekly asshat kind of moment. Ayatollah would be a contender every single week if we just voted for shittiest person on the planet.

I don't mind this poll, but I'm not in love with it. It's good to be aware of the negative aspects of our world, but that doesn't mean we have to vote on them. People need a break from sadness.

If you want more polls, how about expanding Gay of the Week to Person of the Week (someone who does something really good that week.) Or on a lighter side, Has-been of the week, Hottie of the week,  Cutest-moment of the week, etc.

You too can be saved by the blog! www.savedbytheblog14.blogspot.com 

I may be straight, but I'm not narrow.

Ok i know this is a pop culture site and that is why i will only post this ones but for those that wanna do more then shruck there shoulders and move on go here http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=876

and register. They will ask you to write letters from occasion to different places in the world.

I think Perez Hilton is annoying. I live in Germany and recently his image appeared in my local Saturday newspaper! and I was thinking to myself "Is there no place where I could go to where I am not exposed to his bitchy mug"? Looks like even this place is not Perez-free which leaves pretty much only the Dlisted blog by Michael K.

AfterElton, please don't give Perez the attention-fix he's addicted to.

I'd have to agree with the first commenter.
I'm not a fan of this feature.

It's a shame that the BGWE has already been published, I was going to suggest the results of this poll as the FAIL of the week...

I kid (just a little.)

I actually enjoy the asshat poll, specifically for the discussion and debate that it inspires.  As someone that was participating in this week's discussion, it really made me stop and think and I may have even learned a thing or two.

Yeah, the voting thing doesn't seem terribly nesscessary. It does bring up some good discussion, but the heavy emotions it elicts might be more harm than good.

Nice post though Dennis, it's cool that you guys touch on reader discussion in your articles. :)

"Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it should be." - Rob Bell

I don't really mind Hilton to be honest...

It's probably because I read his blog ;) Also the fact that he apologized surprised in a good way, and I don't think he deserves that much hate from people...He's annoying, selfish, obnoxious...But still, asshat of the week? I voted for the Iranian guy. 

I hope we are more multiimentional then just what was discuss in this blog. Sure, often there are serious discusision of social politics. There are many other sites with serious political discussion not to mention organization and society some of us belong to. If we are concern about atrocities occuring in other part of the world I hope we have other means of expressing our views and concerns in other form as well. Be it writing to your senators or presidents or prime ministers or protestings on the streets or infront of the embassies. Or sending your views to editors of various media. No offence to After Elton, my concerns with Iran was raised with political representatives of my country as well as the mainstream media that often give more coverage than just a sentence or two written by a website.

Personally, I like this feature.  The purpose of the web site is to cover, and I quote, "News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media."  It doesn't say anything about shiny, happy, positive issues and comments only.  I can see where people might disagree on the title or the voting procedure, although I think this adds a bit of humor and lightheartedness to the whole affair (making it, in a way, a good and healthy way of dealing with unpleasant and downright ridiculous people).  This feature has caused debates and raised awareness of things that I, at least, wasn't always familiar with. And many times, an asshat is an asshat and you have to call them on it.  Recognition of allies is important but so is drawing attention to people who are negatively affecting the lives, reputations, etc. of GLBT individuals.

And I also agree with Liz above, there's no rule saying that every reader on the site has to read and participate in every post.  If you're not a fan of the poll, then skip it.

That said, I do have to wonder about the landslide "win" of Perez Hilton.  First, it hardly seems to compare.  Perhaps so many votes were because of the entertainment-oriented focus of the site?  Secondly, for how much the bloggers here at AE seem to hate PH, they give him an awful lot of coverage.  He definitely follows the "no such thing as bad publicity" approach, so if the point of the poll is to shame or negatively comment on the "winner," I don't think these results have accomplished that. Maybe the best way to deal with PH, if you don't like him (and I don't) is to just ignore him.

 

Its perhaps forever debatable the question of whether the AOTW serves a valid purpose. Who really knows?

One thing I think I can attribute to it is that it may very well serve the purpose of 'waking up' the person who gets the award. With Perez' tunnel-vision that may not happen but it may make some of his followers re-consider visiting his blog. 

I didn't vote but I certainly would have after I read his initial post on the news of Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest (which he re-edited). Here's an excerpt:

 We are dubious!!
Jacko pulled a similar stunt when he was getting ready for his big HBO special in '95 when he "collapsed" at a rehearsal!
He was dragging his heels on that just like his upcoming 50 date London residency at the 02 Arena, of which he already postponed the first few dates!!!
Either he's lying or making himself sick, but we're curoius to see if he'll go on!!!
Get your money back, ticket holders!!!

Suffice it to say. He deserves the AOTW.

Its perhaps worth mentioning that the Matthew Shepherd Foundation decided to refuse whatever proceeds he intended to give from the lawsuit with the Black Eyed Peas manager.

After the horrendous choice for AOTH last week,i was overjoyed to see a sensible asshat choice this time around. Keep up the good work.

Count me as one who thinks this site is better off without this feature.  Plus I despise the term "Asshat" so if you must keep the award please consider renamig it.