Perez Hilton On The Plaigarism Charge

Three days later, Perez Hilton has responded to my initial, polite e-mail asking for proper credit.

Here's how he explained the fact that a unique, distinctive phrase created by me ended up in one of his blog posts as if it had been uttered by Sophia Loren. Which, incidentally, it was not. Unclear on whether I was ripped off? Here's my post and here's the screen cap of his.

This was his e-mail:

Hey.
Just as an FYI:
A reader sent me that item as their own.
I will send you their email (but I will block their address out because it's none of your business who my sources are).
But, it is so desperate and pathetic of you to contact the Los Angeles Times and try and get them to write an article about my "plagiarism."
Be careful what you say, making false accusations.
xoxo
P

So a few things here. Perez did pass along the e-mail he received and -- oops! -- he left in source's name. It's a fellow named Drew Mullins who, so far as I can tell, lives nowhere near Las Vegas. His e-mail address, in fact, ends with a dot-ca, as in Canada. He's an aspiring actor who has appeared in one thing, a Nickelback video, two years ago.

So, taking Perez at his word, he has blindly quoted a "source" who lifted a phrase from someone else. No checking it out, nothing. Just up it goes, virtually verbatim -- from someone who HAS NO REASON TO KNOW ANYWAY. Think of that next time he posts something his "sources" are telling him.

Further, it's especially odd that, having been informed of where the information actually came from and how it had been mishandled, he did not correct the error. Thus, he becomes culpable.

Finally, it is neither pathetic nor desperate to seek proper credit for one's work. I'm a widely respected journalist with regular credits in most of this nation's major publications. Walking all over people and stealing from their work may be accepted practice in Perez's world, but there's no shame whatsoever in attempting to show people that this is how he operates.