July 5, 2009

Judy Shepard Rejects Perez Hilton’s Blood Money

We’ve been aware that Perez Hilton got his lip bloodied after calling Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am a “faggot,” then launched an online catfight, and threatened a lawsuit… If you want all the gory details, the L.A. Times offers a mercifully short recap.

We haven’t blogged about the incident until now because 1) we waste as few pixels as possible on that particular attention-whoring drama queen (Hilton, not will.i.am), unless it involves something or someone that really, really interests us (like Carrie Prejean or Michael Jackson), and 2) I personally found it next to impossible to write word one about the incident without saying something extremely out of line regarding karma and Schadenfreude.

But when this came up on our radar … Well, it interests us, a lot — and reminds me, especially, how to dissociate from the bottom-dwelling scumsuckers among us with true class. Not that I’ll necessarily remember the lesson the next time somebody ticks me off, but still…

From the Matthew Shepard Foundation Web site, undated (but on or about June 26, 2009):

Statement from Matthew Shepard Foundation Regarding PerezHilton.Com

The Matthew Shepard Foundation was surprised to learn this morning via media reports that blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) has announced he plans to donate, to our organization, the proceeds of a lawsuit he is contesting over an altercation which has been widely reported in recent days.

We had no advance notice or contact from Mr. Hilton or his representatives regarding this proposal, nor any communication since he posted this plan to his website.

We do not know the details of the lawsuit, whether it has been filed, the nature of his claims or the likely outcome. But because the lawsuit presumably involves the physical attack prompted by Mr. Hilton’s admitted use of an anti-gay slur, the Foundation will be unable to accept any funds obtained in such a manner.

We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.

While we applaud Mr. Hilton’s apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people’s attention the consequences of hateful or intolerant language.

Judy Shepard
Chair, MSF Governing Board

Like I said, true class.

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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