Following the news that Perez Hilton had filed a lawsuit against Polo Molina, the road manager for the Black Eyed Peas, stemming from a June 21 incident that left Hilton with a cut under his eye, the sharp-tongued celebrity blogger apologized for his use of a anti-gay slur during the altercation.
Hilton also said he has reached out to former “Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington, whom he condemned on his blog for using similar language towards Washington's former co-star, T.R. Knight.
“People make mistakes. I have made many in my life, but this past week I have made more than I can count on one hand,” Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, wrote on his blog. “I am sorry. And I mean it. No one is forcing me to write this. I am not feeling pressured to say this. I am speaking out because I realize that the last few days have been more hurtful to me — and many others — than the repeated blows I suffered to my head in Toronto this past weekend.”
Hilton claims that on Sunday, Black Eyed Peas’ member will.i.am made “belligerent demands” that the blogger stop posting information about his group on the Web site, and when he “refused to concede,” Molina allegedly “engaged in a brutal physical assault of Lavendeira outside of the Toronto nightclub Cobra.”
“I have been filled with incredible sadness and regret. I am sorry that any good work I have done for promoting equality may be tainted by me reclaiming a hurtful word — that’s been personally used against me and the gay community — to hurt someone that was verbally attacking me,” he added. “It was stupid. Apologizing for me is not easy. Writing this was not easy. Life is not easy. But everything happens for a reason and I will take away a lot of valuable lessons from this experience. Violence is never the answer. Never. Victims should not be mocked.”
No more slurs
The blogger goes on to say he will never use the word “faggot” again.
“The ‘F’ word will never be uttered from my lips again. Just as others use the ‘N’ word to insult and hurt — or as part of their everyday speech — I challenge them to remove it from their vocabulary as well. Hindsight is always 20/20, they say,” he continued. “I should have been the bigger man and walked away from an unfortunate situation. Instead, I chose — in a very misguided way ’ to stand up for myself and only made things worse by how I — under pressure and (duress) - handled the situation. I am sorry.”
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Though Hilton apologized to anyone he hurt by his choice of words, the blogger noted that he is not apologizing to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, who spoke out against him for using the slur.
“I am NOT apologizing to GLAAD,” Hilton said. “I could care less about them, my former employers. I am apologizing to the gay community, to anyone who was hurt by my choice of words, and to all the people who have ever emailed me to thank me for all that I have done to fight for gay rights over the last few years,” he wrote.
And in what may be the most surprising outcome from the incident, Hilton said he reached out to former “Grey’s” star Washington, who ran into trouble at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards after he used an anti-gay slur during a backstage press conference while denying he’d used it previously against T.R. Knight.
“I have reached out to Isaiah Washington, someone I incorrectly labeled a homophobe in the past, despite his own public statements that he was not,” Hilton continued.
Hilton concluded his post saying he would donate any money won in his pending lawsuit to charity.
“I will be donating any money collected from my lawsuit against Polo Molina, road manager for the Black Eyed Peas, to the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” he wrote. “And I will continue to speak out for equality and support the great work done by LGBT organizations, such as LAMBDA Legal and HRC.”
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Hilton filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, claiming battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He is asking for a judge to award him monies in excess of $25,000 for general damages, as well as additional amounts for medical bills and expenses and punitive damages.