Let's drop the whole 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' bullshit for a second. This post isn't about him. This post is about Mario Lavandeira, the legitimately human individual who stands behind a brand of bitchiness and tearing others down.
As soon as news of will.i.am's feud with Lavandeira emerged, I became uncomfortable by a surprisingly common reaction–"He deserved it." People who read his site religiously lashed out with this justification, and it wasn't just the general public. Celebrities are blowing up their Twitter accounts posting about the incident, including (but not limited to) Tila Tequila, Frankie Muniz, John Mayer, Mark Ronson, Travis McCoy, Jonathan R. Knight, Kirstie Alley and Kelly Clarkson. Even bloggers I highly respect alluded to this sentiment.
Now, I would never compare the two situations, but this just reminds me of when people said Rihanna "deserved it" or "got what she was asking for". When I heard such statements or individuals merely defending Chris Brown, I lost my cool–going red in the face, holding myself back from yelling and immediately shutting them down.
Oddly, my discomfort with the Lavandeira situation comes from the fact that I almost agree he deserved it. I beat myself up for potentially admitting anyone could deserve to have violence inflicted upon them. Yes, I will say that I'm disturbed by the "he deserved it" comments, though there's absolutely no passion behind it.
To read the rest and check out a few reactions, follow the JUMP:
Why is it so difficult to defend this man? Let's start with how he insinuated that Chaz Bono was only getting sexual reassignment surgery so he could use it as a loophole to marry his partner. Let's add how he contributes to body image issues by mocking beautiful stars like Kristen Bell's cellulite. Let's continue with him getting on a high horse about certain issues and using hateful insults such as "dumb bitch" to justify his cause. Finally, let's end with his inability to put the past where it belongs, hiding behind moral character with a passive aggressive jab.
They say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Well, I don't know who "they" are, but they are wildly out of touch with reality. Tell someone that words don't hurt whose child committed suicide because other students taunted him or her. Tell someone that words don't hurt whose career or personal life was ruined by them. Words do hurt, and it's a concept so simple that even Degrassi: The Next Generation understands it.
What about the choice of words? In Lavandeira's response video, he states that "faggot" is "the worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear." Yes, Mario, all black people are thugs. Especially rappers! And you know what, my dear blogger? All self-proclaimed thugs are also totally straight. No black man would ever refer to himself as a faggot.
GLAAD issued a statement speaking out against this choice of language, and I commend them for publicly acknowledging this foolishness. But before I go off saying Lavandeira "got what was coming to him", I just think to myself… it could have been worse.
– Dewitt
Kelly Clarkson doesn’t have a Twitter account or anything online… so i was surprised you mentioned her then i saw the video… which for the most part just reinforces Kelly’s current fame, no new sides.
amazing how she manages to say “uber” and not be very online community 😛
This man, whome I Will Mention: “Perez Hilton” is now and has always been a mess!!!!! And, to think he actually attempts to tackle political issues that have a direct effect on the Gay Community is a joke. Has anyone else noticed how inarticulate he is, and how easy it is to make him confusessed to the point he stutters. Enough said, we have all wasted enough time on this loser………
I’m surprised it took this long for someone to kick his ass.
Sorry, but Perez is the type who was probably picked on when he was younger, but thanks to the internet he felt could start picking on other people and be the bully himself.
Honestly, I would have loved to see one of the people he’s outed take a swing at him too.
Yes, he can be annoying. He says mean things, and what he said to Will I Am was very stupid. But for the manager to attack him was wrong. It was wrong to call Will a faggot, but to react with violence is also wrong. The entire situation is sad. It is my belief that no one has the right to hit another person, for any reason. If someone calls you a faggot, Will I Am, go in the studio and write a viscious song attacking him verbally. One should never lower themselves to the level of physical violence.
Loved the video…to funny
I saw a video of Perez Hilton in which he said that during the encounter, he wanted to say the one thing he knew would make wil.i.am furious, that he wanted to push him over the edge, while at the same time praising himself for taking “non-violent” action. I don’t call instigating a fight “non-violent.” Just because he didn’t start the physicality of the moment doesn’t mean he’s Gandhi. He’s just like every little bitch out there who pushes and pushes and pushes and then cries out for justice when he gets exactly what he wanted.
If you’re asking for it, and you get it, then you deserved it. End of story. Illegal or not, he got what he had coming to him.
I find it absolutely disgusting that Perez Hilton is trying to claim the moral high ground on this issue
He is verbally abusive (in print anyway) to countless numbers of celebrities on his blog, saying the most horrible things. He is a verbally abusive bully, and he admits that his intent was to provoke will.i.am as much as possible. I reject the idea that violence is never the answer. Yes, I think that a minor act of physical violence is offset by years of verbal abuse.
Furthermore, calling will.i.am a faggot as an insult is unequivocally hate speech regardless of his sexuality, and I for one would like to see Perez prosecuted under Canadian law for it.
got to love tila tequila lashing out how he isnt a star… go tila!?
Perez is a loser. His 15 minutes of fame is hopefully up. Maybe someone will give him a real ass whooping.
“If you’re asking for it, and you get it, then you deserved it. End of story. Illegal or not, he got what he had coming to him. ”
Something needs to be specified about this post.
Perez wasn’t “asking for it” in any metaphorical sense. This wasn’t the ‘scantily clad’ rape victim or something. This was LITERAL asking for it. Direct provocation….
And it still doesn’t make the manager’s reaction approvable. Understandable? Oh good sweet lord yes, but not a good thing. There’s a number of reasons why:
1-Violence. Law. Now Hilton gets that much more attention. Etc. You know, the base, surface reasons.
2-Why’d he punch Hilton? For calling Will.I.Am. gay, essentially. THAT is what crossed the line and justified a physical attack? That’s equally as bad as Hilton using it as an attack in the first place.
Him calling him a faggot just made the situation worse. He didnt ask for violence but he was looking for a reaction. He is an instigator and when he got a reaction he screams and cries fowl. Its really fuct up and pathetic..
Part of me says it’s not right that Perez was attacked physically, but I can’t feel sorry for him any way until he apologizes for using faggot in a derogatory context.
If you are going to compare Perez to Rihanna, then let’s compare apples to apples. Rihanna was in a relationship with Chris Brown, which makes her attack abuse. To make it comparable, Perez has a relationship with these people, and it is an abusive one. He verbally abuses people. And in any abusive relationship, there is a tipping point where the other side pushes back. That’s what occurred here; someone pushed back. Not to condone violence, but drama breeds drama and for all the ugly abuse he has spewed, it is only natural that someone would push back.
A couple side notes — he referred to himself as objective in his video. He needs a dictionary, because his site is the exact opposite of objective. It is very subjective.
Secondly, shouldn’t he be charged with some sort of crime for disrupting emergency services? Taking to twitter to ask people to bombard the police with calls seems to me like it would be incredibly disruptive, given that — as he boasts — he gets 10 million hits a day.
He totally had it coming. Anyone w/ two cents about them can see that. It’s not like he was hurt that badly. Seriously though, If you get into a fight, and can twitter about it within seconds, your obviously not in bad shape are you!
My thoughts on the subject and why he deserved it:
http://www.youtube.com/gdprophetxvii