Weird. Perez ran the top picture (of Paris Hilton) today, with one of the logos on the backdrop (obviously) erased. Below it you’ll find a picture of Kim and Sean Stewart from the same event. The logo he erased was Brent Bolthouse’s. What’s the drama there?
DJ Samantha Ronson, known more lately for what her fingers are doing with Lindsay Lohan than what they’re doing with a turntable, has struck back against two gossip blogs with a $20 million libel suit.
Ronson, herself a budding celebrity deejay, is striking back at suggestions that cocaine found in Lohan’s car after an infamous fender-bender was actually hers.
Named as defendants were Jill Ishkanian, who runs the Sunset Photo and News Agency, and Mario Lavandeira, who blogs as Perez Hilton.
In June, Hilton repeated the cocaine claim that first appeared on CelebrityBabylon.com, a Web site operated by Sunset Photo.
That site claimed Ronson was “making a tidy profit on the side, shilling Lohan, 20, out to photographers eager to get her photo looking passed out and wasted.”
It continued: “If that wasn’t shocking enough, sources say that it was Ronson who was holding the cocaine later found in Lindsay’s car.”
First of all, everyone ran that story. Samantha’s suing Sunset Photo because, for lack of a better phrase, they started it, and because flat-out accusing someone of doing cocaine is an easy way to wind up on the losing end of a libel suit. (And, to clarify, every time the word “cocaine” is used on this blog, you should be aware that it’s our code word for “popsicle.” Inside joke. We know no one in Hollywood would ever use illegal narcotics. Winners don’t do drugs. But they do like popsicles.) She’s suing Perez to get back at him for all the mean shit he runs about Lindsay, because Lord knows after he settles this suit with X17 et al, he’s not going to have a cent to pay her with. She’s just trying to make his life miserable. Which is, you know, fine with me.
Oh. Fuck. Yes. Now this makes sense.
Finally, a lawsuit in which Perez Hilton is not being accused of copyright violations. In fact, the gossip blogger (real name: Mario Lavandeira) is the one suing this time, claiming that a rogue Los Angeles photo agency is unfairly competing against his blog by, among other things, employing a platoon of illegal aliens who physically threaten the paparazzi competition. Filed yesterday, Lavandeira’s Los Angeles Superior Court complaint … alleges that the X17 agency’s owners engage in “illegal and unethical business practices” and that they exploit the company’s photographers, many of whom are “from Brazil or other countries” and are “believed to be illegal aliens.” He also charges that the agency may “employ photographers with criminal backgrounds and/or gang affiliations.” While Lavandeira does not identify any paparazzi by name, X17 photographer Ramon “Twist” Kirk is a convicted sex offender. As first revealed by reporter Eric Longabardi, Kirk spent 16 months in a California prison for the felony sex crime, which involved a teenage girl. Lavandeira contends that X17 has launched a “copycat blog” and, to secure a competitive advantage, the agency exploits its labor pool “through unlawful business practices.
Not only is Perez suing X17 as a corporation, he’s also suing its owners, Francois and Brandy Navarre, as individuals.
You can read the full complaint here.
We’ll be talking about this more later, I promise.
Who’d've guessed that on Paris Hilton Jail Release day, my favorite story would be about an entirely different Hilton?
(Thanks Chris!)
Notice To All Current And Former Photographers Of X17
Does X17 owe you money?
If you feel that you have not been adequately compensated by X17 for your time (including overtime) or your photographs, please contact us at info@perezhilton.com immediately.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Ohhhhhhhh shit.
This no longer has anything to do with first amendment rights or satire or copyright infringement. This shit is personal, and it has been for a while now.
But it is sooooo much fun!!!!
PerezWatch just got interesting. After all the drama and all the lawsuits between Perez and X17, it seems as though actual changes are beginning to occur.
Perez’s longtime host, Crucial Paradigm, took the site offline yesterday after numerous threats from X17’s legal team. The site was dark for a few hours, and it’s back up now, hosted by Blogads. (Really? Um, does Blogads host anyone else? Because, like, they barely host the Blogads service. If you’ve never had to try to deal with that user interface, consider yourself lucky.) The current version of Perez’s site doesn’t include his archives or allow for comments. That last part is really too bad. Now there’s no place for the world’s intelligentsia to weigh in ever so eloquently on the trials and tribulations of the very famous.
But X17’s lawyers are already hounding Blogads about it and threatening legal action. “It’s a precedent that’s huge,” they say “When we were talking to Crucial Paradigm they were saying they were not responsible, dragging their feet. We had to threaten them and show them they were liable. His new host is Blogads, and we’re contacting them already.”
I have to admit, I’m a regular Perez reader (but you guys knew that), and I’m fascinated to see how this case plays out, and the impact it has on the rest of us.
Since her ex Ryan Reynolds has begun blogging for the Huffington Post (and I won’t get into this in much detail, but his stuff is so overwritten and irrelevant and annoying — we get it, Ryan. You know big words and you’re a famous actor. Big props to you, buddy.), Perez has offered Alanis an opportunity to blog for him!
We’d like to offer Alanis Morissette her own little online outlet to talk about whatever she wants.
Write an essay for us!
Alanis writing for Perez!!!!! I love it. Come on, Alanis. After So-Called Chaos, you owe us.
Also, this is the slowest news day ever.
Perez ran this unflattering image tonight of Sheriff Lee Baca, Paris Hilton’s would-be savior.
Additionally, he ran the quote from Rocky Delgadillo, stating that “justice was served” with the headline: “Justice Was Served.” I’d have expected him to run it as “Justice Was Served?”, but it was suspiciously question-markless.
What happened to Paris’s biggest supporter? Is he pissed that Paris won’t give him any exclusives on this, and he has to get all his updates via TMZ like the rest of us plebes? Is he just sick of being called out on the fact that he always gives Paris a break?
Interesting …
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