Asshat Smackdown! for June 24, 2009

I picked the Ayatollah over Hilton only because Khamenei matters.

Too obvious.

Condemnation heaped upon someone who already has no respect for the gay community and is pledged to its destruction is just bailing water on the Titanic...

On the other hand, I'm now having trouble figuring out if that sentence is about the Ayatollah or Hilton.

had to vote for perez here....

whats worse is he thinks he is the true victim. yeah, i dont think violence is a good solution, but seriously...all he does every day is put people down. what did he expect? and saying faggot to someone's face? once again, what did he expect?

*sigh* whats wrong with people?

OMFG so the guy that opproves and supports the public executing of gay people gets LESS votes then the dumb ass who does not know when to shut up.ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!

 

...to dump on Perez, I'm casting my vote for the Ayatollah. His asshattery affects a whole country. Hilton's only affects the future of will.i.am's manager.

Besides which, judging from the results thus far, Perez doesn't need my help to earn the title. One question, though: Is there ever a week when he ISN'T an asshat?

Just asking because with those ears, well...

Nah. Elves are supposed to be intellegent, and Chyna's, well, a moron.

These are all very good examples.  Each in their own right deserves to wear the title (and a stoning).  But, I had to go with the one that effects most people, not just ethics and decency.

In the words of Homer the Drunk: Ayatollah Assaholla!

Come on dudes!  We need to keep in mind that our brothers and sisters in Iran have much bigger asshats on their hands than immature gossip bloggers or out of control drag queens! 

One day that perez fella wil realize what a joke he is and that will be enough punisment for what he did stupid,ayatollah will never feel any remorse for the things he's done and will most likely be celebrated for his sturn stand on the evil sodomites.

The sad thing is last week you voted for obama for some letter and this week you let this murderer go free!!

problem solved! We'll see how quick the moron can twitter before  the biggest asshat of the land twist his fingers off!!

I've cast my vote for Perez Hilton for being a hypocrite - for being able to dish it out but not being able to take it. He has this belief that it's okay to hurt people relentlessly with his words, but people making fun of his whining or for people saying he deserved what he got is completely not okay.

He also gets my vote for making a big, huge stink over one small punch which barely left a mark. I think we've all been hit at some point in our lives. I've been in fights as a kid. You get up, brush yourself off, clean up, and go on with your life. You don't cry, "LEAVE PEREZ ALONE!" in your own video. People have had it far worse. Look at Rihanna.

Perez Hilton...Supreme ruler of the Asshats!

Ayatollah Assaholla comes a very close second.

No interest in the drag queen or Butt..er...Bruno.

It breaks my heart to know there is this little solidarity for LGBT people across the world.

There are millions who would kill to have the same rights you(and i) have

You don't cry, "LEAVE PEREZ ALONE!" in your own video. People have had it far worse. Look at Rihanna.

Yea or look at those 2 teenage boys who got executed under the loud cheer of a crowd after they where tortured.

 

Wiccan and Psionycx are right. There are way bigger issues in the LGBT world community than some punk stirring up a bit of drama. I understand that its easier to dislike Perez due to the fact that the problems he's causing are hitting closer to home, but what they are saying has really put things into perspective imo. Your brothers over in Iran fear for their lives.

One the other hand, the title of Asshat might even be understating what Ayatollah is doing...

perez is like the gay version of all bundy isn't he,you can look at him and feel good about yourself because you are soo much better as a person...well after your done feeling good about yourself you can educate yourself and take a look at what is happening with LGBT communaties in the world.

WTF moments of the past week.

We're not planning the activist agenda gay rights activities for the next year or dictating the mission of the Human Rights Commission by virtue of this vote.

Voting the Ayatollah an Asshat has absolutely no effect on the attrocities going on in Iran (though having him be a candidate does point out to folks who might not be paying attention that there is something going on in Iran worth reading about and acting on) 

This particular smackdown is not THAT serious and doesn't reflect what folks feel about what's going on in Iran. 

I trust that folks here appreciate the difference between the "plight" of Perez Hilton and and a bloody battle for fair voting practicies and democracy in Iran.

"That's our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment." (Bayard Rustin)  **   "Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common" (Dorothy Parker)

On one hand we've got Khamanei who actively goes out killing gay people in his own country and he pays for the killing of Americans and Europeans in other countries.

On the other hand we have a gossipmonger who used the word 'faggot' in a fight. I mean, seriously people...

That other post on the site today about Antonio Banderas when he said that 20 years ago it was more accepted if you killed someone than if you kissed a man, it's the same today. People are getting more upset about the word 'faggot' being used than the death of our own countrymen and the executions of gay men for being gay. Exactly where are our priorities?

Seriously, it's perfectly OK to hate Perez Hilton - but he doesn't kill people.

And somehow he's worse than the guy who does?

This just defeats me. Somehow gossip is more important than actual death? It's like a vindication of every stereotype of gay men being shallow, vapid creatures with no appreciation of what's important in the world. It's so damning of the gay 'community' as to be untrue.

is meant to convey what gay people think is the most important thing going on in a given week?

I think folks are going overboard with the condemnation of folks' choice of who gets to be Asshat.

Obviously, just having the Ayatollah as a candidate presents a teachable moment about what's going on in Iran for folks who weren't aware.  But that's about it.

I don't think that any of you actually believe that your fellow gays  (in general or on this website) are so frivolous and out of touch,  that we don't understand that the political situation in Iran is more important than anything else in the list above.

Do you really believe that who gets elected ASSHAT of the WEEK is some kind of symbol or representation of what the participants and visitors to this website think is the most important thing going on this past week?
Come on.  Asshat of the Week is basically just our way of saying "Hey, you suck this week!"   It's like a pressure valve.  It's not that serious.  It's  not a political platform or movement.
The Ayatollah will be a blight on the face of humanity for a long time to come, not just this week or this past month or for the next 2 years.  He will be an evil bastard for as long as he lives and is capable of forming a thought and spewing hate couched in religion and controlling the activities of others.

Gay people DO NOT think that Perez Hilton or Bruno are more important or more dangerous or more significant to  human rights than the bigotry, discrimination  and violent practices cultivated by the likes of the Ayatollah Khamenei.

Calling the Ayatollah Khamenei an Asshat does absolutely nothing to help the people in Iran or further the cause of gay rights or even educate folks about the atrocities going on in Iran and I can't imagine anyone who's going to go to this kind of website to see what gay men think about Iran because that isn't generally the mission of this kind of website (its' not primarily about politics or political discourse though of course that occurs and is relevant to us all here)  Getting involved in local, national and political movements, reading and seeking out information and putting our bodies and voices in the mix is what will have an effect on the activities of the Ayatollah and the government of Iran.

Maybe it was just inappropriate to put the Ayatollah in a list with a bad-tempered drag queen who had a fight with his boyfriend, a trash-talking gossip monger who got punched and a fictional movie character.

"That's our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment." (Bayard Rustin)  **   "Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common" (Dorothy Parker)

I feel for the guy that punched Perez (Polo). Violoence is never the answer but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. Perez constantly mocks, ridicules and antagonizes people citing his freedom under the consitution. But with those freedoms don't you then have to take responsibility for what you say and the effect it will have on people? Had someone been calling one of my freinds "f****t" I would have stood up for them. If Perez was truly sorry for his action he wouldn't sue Polo and they'd sit down and talk it out. Or you know, just move on let go of the anger and learn.

Ayatollah can win next week. The guys older then dirt and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Not that I, ahhh, read his site or anything.  Ahem!  But he just posted a rather lengthy and, IMHO, rather decent apology to the gay community.

He also agreed to donate any money he receives from the lawsuit agains the BEP manager to the Mathew Shepard Foundation.

I know many (nearly all?) of the readers on this site still despise him and will certainly comment on how the apology is too little too late, insincere, not good enough, etc.  But I think it is cool that he admitted he was wrong.  I also think people were far to quick to excuse the violence against him (no matter how stupid/wrong what he said was).

Anyway, maybe he saw this poll and really didn't want to lose to the Ayatollah???  :)

Tempting to put the hat on Hilton, but he only thrives on attention, regardless. 

But what a headline moment: Black Eyed Peas meet Black Eyed Pez.  After his choice of language I think he's lucky not to have ended up another kind of vegetable entirely. 

Although, his pink hair does bring out all the colours in the bruising.  Can he accessorise or what.

I would LOVE to have a chance to punch Perez Hilton. :)

but ultimately, he DOES NOT MATTER. He is just a famewhore grasping for straws in an ever fickle and highly subjective field. The Ayatollah however has real world consequences and real world clout. LGBT persons in Iran are routinely imprisioned tortured and murdered under his regime. They brand them as "pedophiles" and "rapists" when in reality they are just normal people expressing their sexual identiites. He uses his "religion" as a firebrand, a tool to desecrate and inflame a once proud and indutrious people and turn them into a pack of religion besotted fanatics whose sole purpose in life is to spread their particular brand of hatred.  yes, definitely he is much more of a threat than some loud-mouth blogger with pink hair.  He is deserving of the asshat award.

 

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."

It's very odd to me that the story of Perez, an out gay man and pseudocelebrity, being assaulted and dropping the F-bomb WAS NOT covered by AfterElton (due, apparently to an editorial decision) after months of having him dropped into commentary that had absolutely nothing to do with him. 

LOL, so when he's legitimately newsworthy, you don't cover him? 

That aside, he has apologized profusely on his site, and I sense he's sincere in his apology.  I tend to put myself in his shoes and think back to the many times I've had foot-in-mouth disease and said things I immediately regretted (like the time the neighbor asked me if my partner was my brother and I instinctively responded with "Yes" which left me reeling from feelings of shame and self-loathing for days.)  We've all been there, said stupid, hurtful things in the heat of the moment.  Does the fact that Perez wouldn't let someone off the hook for doing the same thing mean we shouldn't do that for him?  I like to think I'm bigger than that, personally.

Was it karma?  Maybe, but I think it's really sad that as a community we are looking the other way at the violence committed against him, as though he somehow "deserved" it after we collectively get on our pulpits and preach against violence in ANY fashion otherwise.

I'm aware of who and what Perez Hilton is.  He's a mean-spirited gossipmonger who says very mean and hateful things about people.  Is THAT the magic combination of traits that entitles a man to be assaulted? 

We have to decide, are we against violence against gay men PERIOD, or is it just the ones who are cute, nice and friendly?

I can’t believe there’s even any question or debate on this one. I saw the list, and I figured Ayatollah Khamenei would be the clear winner in this race. Wow. 60% voted for Perez Hilton so far?? Really?? An out-proud successful gay man who stands up for civil rights, versus a murderer who destroys them.

 

Perez made a mistake, which by my count he’s apologized for twice now, and went too far. It happens. Who of us has never said something in anger that shouldn’t have been said? For this, he gets asshat of the week? Perez is an ass, that’s his job. That’s what makes his site so popular. It’s a gossip site, it’s supposed to be trashy and mean. That’s the point.

 

He’s condemned on this site time & time again for being a “bad example” of the gay community. Nobody is looking at Perez as an example of the gay community. He’s seen for what he is. He’s not representing the gay community, he’s just earning his living. Bill O’Reilly is an asshat each and every week, and people don’t see him and think “oh, all straight men are assholes, just look at that Bill O’Reilly.” And what makes him a bad example, because he’s mean and vulgar? What about all the times he’s stood up for civil rights? His countless postings against Prop 8? The marches he’s attended the money he’s given? All that means nothing, cause he’s not a nice person?

 

So, the group hates him and this week he finally does something that is seen as going too far, and there is a “legitimate” reason to throw his name into the asshat ring, and he’s going to win. Shame. I wish I had known I was throwing my vote away when I voted for Ayatollah. Reading the comments, there are a few names that would’ve made a good write-in vote.

This was not an "assault" and Perez did not get punched in the face for what he says on his website.

People use the word "assault" entiredly too liberally. If Fergie had slapped Perez across the face for calling her a "whore" to her face, would that also be an "assault'" or is it only an "assault" if a big brown man does the hitting?

Men punch each other all the time. I'm not talking about domestic violence or hate crimes, I'm talking regular dudes getting into a bar fight. It's not pretty but it happens and it's not unusual.

Perez wasn't attacked by a group of people and he was not in danger of being attacked by the members of the Black Eyed Peas and he's lying if he says he was. He has met them millions of times. He knew he wasn't really in danger that's why he felt safe enough to mouth off and I'm sure getting punched was just a bonus for him.

Do any of y'all actually follow what this man does and says on a daily basis (in person and on his website?) I hadn't before the last couple of week but then I made a point to inform myself and I was appauled by his CHOICES!.

It goes beyond mere gossip. It's hate speech that he spews. Misogynist, racist, homophobic hate speech that as far as I am concerned incites others to do the same.

Perez has every legal right to say whatever he wants but then he needs to be able to back that crap up because not every person is going to "use their words" (whether they should or not) and if he's going to make a habit out of suing everyone who decides to smack him, it's going to be his full time job.

Perez should learn to box or take karate or something because Polo Molina isn't the first person to lose it and smack Perez and he probably won't be the last. Whether it's right or wrong, that's just the reality of human nature.

Who cares if he's sorry now? The person he needs to be sorry to is the one he knowingly falsely accused of assaulting him by sending out a fake distress tweet on Twitter. That tweet went viral before Perez even got up the next day. And it was a lie. A complete lie.

Will I Am and Fergie had every right to go up to him and ask him to lay off. There is nothing wrong with what they did or said and neither of them threatened him (by his own account)

Perez blatantly lied when he said Will I Am and his "bodyguards" attacked him. He made a conscious choice to lie about that just like he made a conscious choice to say what he said.

It was slander and he needs to be sued for that because that "I have been assaulted by Will I Am and his bodyguards" tweet has become a headline that will follow the Peas where ever they go even though the truth has already come out.

Not to mention that Perez tweeted about the incident an hour after it happened while he was on his way to a party! He wasn't laying in the street bleeding and waiting for the cops. He lied about that too.

I am perfectly willing to take anyone's side if they are unjustly accused or attacked.

As far as I'm concerned, screaming into someone's face that they are a Faggot at a party in a room full of people is homophobic verbal abuse! He even admitted that it was calculated, he thought about it, the words didn't just fly out of his mouth he said he wanted to call Will I Am the worse name he could come up with (those are Perez words more or less)

I don't know if Will I Am is gay. It is entirely possible that he is and he's closeted and that's what Perez's response was about. But if so, then I have even more respect for Will I Am for not smacking Perez himself.

If one of Will I Am's friends took it upon himself to smack the crap out of Perez for being an aggressive arse, that's between the two of them and by the time Perez' video was up, Molina had already turned himself in to the police.

Perez was not seriously hurt, he suffered no long-term injuries and now he'll get lots of money from Polo Molina for his troubles.

This has nothing to do with him being a member of "our" community. Perez was at a party, he was drunk and he was screaming obsenities it's clear in the video and it's what he admitted doing.

By his own account, HE was the one who started the name calling because he didn't like being challenged by Fergie and Will I Am.

By his own account, HE chose to scream "You're a faggot" directly into Will I Am's face (who by the way is like a 3rd the size of Perez). Will I Am and Fergie both walked away from him. They didn't lay a finger on him

It's not like Perez was in some darkened alley all on his own and got jumped. He was in a crowd of people and they had all probably been drinking.

Maybe it's generational thing to be so shocked that someone got punched at a party but it happens all the time.

In the words of Kelly Clarkson "I've been punched in the face before and I didn't make a video crying about it".

He's only sorry now because the entire gay community didn't immediately take his side against the "thuggish black rapper" which is what he was counting on.

Of course people shouldn't punch people and people shouldn't call women they don't know, who have done nothing to them "Fucking Whores!" either.

Since when is Perez protective of anybody just because they are gay? He has never given any gay person and preferential treatment or free pass from abuse because they are gay.

Perez made a choice that night and he paid a price for it.

Polo Molina made a choice that night and he's paying a price for it. Justice will be served as far as the law is concerned. So I'm happy.

People throw out "violence is not the answer" as if every time somebody hits someone else, it holds the exact same weight and importance.

One guy punching another guy in a fair fight (one on one) is not an act of assualt. It's a fist fight even if they BOTH have friends standing behind them to witness it (which was the case here)

 

"That's our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment." (Bayard Rustin) ** "Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common" (Dorothy Parker)

interesting comments.

first of all, i voted for perez because he is a hypocrite. the ayatollah dude has made it clear how he feels about gays and all that. fine, that wont change. he's more than an asshat though.

we're living in a time where we're fighting for equal rights, right? tell me if i make a mistake here

some people mentioned how perez got so fired up over isaiah washington calling TR knight a faggot. he also got mad over prop 8. he also got mad at carrie prejean and called her a 'dumb bitch'

1. perez is lucky he hasn't been killed for who he is- a gay man

2. we dont have every right out there, but we have more than other places

3. 'faggot'- the word is used in a hateful way and to rile a person up so they will react and then that person can say it more and more to make the situation worse

4. back to equality....i know perez is not a 'spokesperson' and thank god for that...the thing is, he is a public figure. he's out there. my thing is....perez obviously believes we should all be treated with respect and equal rights and everything that most heterosexual people get, correct? otherwise, he wouldn't get so angry at certain stars and beauty contestants.

he can't sit there and expect someone to respect him if he DOES NOT DO THE SAME. that will take away any credibility you had. i actually thought he defended himself well during the Miss. Ca thing....but yeah, no more. gone

From what i hear, the manager dude simply told perez he didnt like him or something and perez got up in HIS face. wouldnt shut up, would not back down. well, if you get in my face, i might try to walk away, but if you follow me and start screaming at me and saying shit, you better expect me to react. perez seemed to WANT a reaction and he got it.

like i keep saying, what did he expect?