Perez Hilton, you're a royal ass

[Les Toil]

And I say that as a VERY staunch advocate of gay rights. But calling a woman a bitch and a cunt and single-handedly removing her chance at winning this (incredibly silly) contest all because he didn't get the answer he wanted is ass-i-nine. He set her up like bowling pins with that question and then proceeded to slam-dunked her. He should have prefaced the question with "I don't want your honest answer, I want the RIGHT answer!".

Here's the story via a short interview with Perez:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT0aSRTuDQ

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by Les Toil

And I say that as a VERY staunch advocate of gay rights. But calling a woman a bitch and a cunt and single-handedly removing her chance at winning this (incredibly silly) contest all because he didn't get the answer he wanted is ass-i-nine. He set her up like bowling pins with that question and then proceeded to slam-dunked her. He should have prefaced the question with "I don't want your honest answer, I want the RIGHT answer!".

Here's the story via a short interview with Perez:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT0aSRTuDQ

Les,

I give your post the thumbs up. I wholeheatedly agree with you........even if by doing so I will never win a Dim FA beauty pageant because of my opinion.

[Les Toil]

Originally Posted by Spanky

I wholeheatedly agree with you........even if by doing so I will never win a Dim FA beauty pageant because of my opinion.

No if that cute Santaclear is competing with you.

[NYSquashee]

I don't think it was exactly the base of what her answer consisted of, so much as her wording. I mean, for the three sentences she said, it was clear that the girl was an imbecile.

And as much as I despite sticking up for a leech like Hilton, he was a judge. Obviously he's not that concerned with how the woman looked in a bikini; so when it came to the question and answer part of that ridiculous pageant, he is going to judge his opinion on a given contestant based on how her answers sat with him.

[steely]

Originally Posted by Les Toil

"I don't want your honest answer, I want the RIGHT answer!".

I think it was more of a "the answer I want to hear".Waste of human space and I have no problem with gay.I do have a problem with jerk,whatever or whomever you happen to be.

[thatgirl08]

I disagree with you guys.

The first sentence she said was false. We CAN'T choose same sex marriage in this country. I'm glad she's up to date. Secondly, she just 'doesn't think gay people should marry.' Her reasoning? That's what her parents told her. What a fucking idiot. Beauty pageants are absolutely stupid to begin with, and throw some in some of the answers these girls come up with, it's bordering pathetic. The only thing I disagree with Perez on is that shes supposed to represent all Americans. Uh, no thnx.

[goofy girl]

I'm not exactly an avid pageant watcher, and have only gotten second hand information about this situation from coworkers and friends...but aren't most of those questions based on political issues?? And, sorry...but if she has her right to her opinion, than so does he.

[steely]

Stupid or not,the girl is entitled to her opinion,wherever she got it.If you don't want to hear my opinion,Don't ask a loaded question,where you are damned by half the poulation for having it.Evidently she believes what she said because it would have been much easier to say sure,gay or otherwise everyone should get married.

This idiot contest should have been done away with years ago.It reinforces stereotypical standards of beauty that are not realistic in today's society.Two words,Donald Trump.

[steely]

Originally Posted by goofy girl

I'm not exactly an avid pageant watcher, and have only gotten second hand information about this situation from coworkers and friends...but aren't most of those questions based on political issues?? And, sorry...but if she has her right to her opinion, than so does he.

Not when you are supposed to be an impartial judge in a contest.This is why this is an outdated practice.No one is impartial.

[LoveBHMS]

I totally agree with Les and I am pro-gay rights, including being pro-gay marriage.

The woman has a right to her opinion. If it were based on religious beliefs, she could reasonably cry discrimination.

Whatever one thinks of beauty pageants, they are just that....pageants, not 'politically correct' pageants.

[Pixelpops]

I'm not convinced Perez took away her chance to win. From what I've read (which admittedly, is not very much) , Miss Carolina won in both the Swimsuit and Evening Gown categories, so she stood a very very good chance of winning anyway.

Similarly, many many people have spoken out against Miss California's comments. She said something a lot of people don't agree with, and she should expect some backlash for it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone is entitled to give their own opinions on others opinions. It doesn't change anything.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm glad Perez asked the question, because (at least from how it looks over here in England) it seems to have bought the gay marriage debate back to the forefront of many peoples minds, wether they agree with it or not.

[The Fez]

Sure it was a loaded question, but she could have given a much less moronic answer than she did. Perez is clearly a dick though, his blog screams pretentious twat.

[thatgirl08]

She has a right to her opinion but that doesn't make any less of an idiot.

[NoWayOut]

Yeah, this was awful. She is definitely not an idiot, it's hard to piece thoughts together in the heat of the moment when you're asked such a loaded question. That was a very poor job on the part of Perez Hilton for asking such a question, and an even worse job slamming her for her honest opinion afterwards. If you don't want her honest opinion, you should not ask that question, and if you aren't prepared for her honest opinion, you should not be a judge.

Perez Hilton is proving to be the Rush Limbaugh of the gay rights movement: an embarrassment to those with similar ideologies and a laughingstock in the eyes of those who oppose him.

One other thing I must address is that in most states, we do have the right to choose allowing same-sex marriage or banning it. Connecticut and Iowa did not have that right, as both had it forced upon them by courts (the majority of Connecticut residents are pro-civil union and anti-gay marriage, and Iowa is likely similar). Massachusetts also had it forced upon them, but voters would be more likely to approve it, since Massachusetts is a haven for liberals.

Vermont is the only state where elected representatives on behalf of their state's people have voted to legalize gay marriage. But she can't be expected to single out three states that don't have the right to choose to allow it or ban it when every other state has either allowed its citizens to vote, its legislature to vote or done nothing.

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by thatgirl08

She has a right to her opinion but that doesn't make any less of an idiot.

Or Perez Hilton any LESS OF A ROYAL ASS.

Just keeping on topic.

I believe he called her a bitch but said later he should have called her a cunt. Stupid people are not assumed to be female dogs and genitalia just because their answer made them look dumb.

[Sandie_Zitkus]

Who had the right to say what they did?

The bigoted young immature southern Christian woman?

or

The flamboyant outspoken - sometimes offensive - gay man?



Both.

[elle camino]

Originally Posted by NoWayOut

Yeah, this was awful. She is definitely not an idiot, it's hard to piece thoughts together in the heat of the moment when you're asked such a loaded question.

what?
she's a professional pageant contestant. the skill set is REALLY brief: walk in heels, successfully apply makeup/gowns/swimwear, and answer questions EXACTLY LIKE THIS. she's had EXTENSIVE training and practice at giving good 'pageant answers', and the questions are almost always political in nature. and the thing about it is they don't even have to be brilliant or incisive answers! from what i understand the deal is: you're asked a political hot-button-type question (like the contestant after her got one about bank bailouts), and you give the most bland, middle-of-the-road, inoffensive answer you can muster, OR (preferably) you ignore the question and pretend you were asked a totally different question which nobody could possibly disagree with your answer to ("bank bailouts is an alliteration, and i think learning about alliteration is GREAT and AS AN AMERICAN i support learning and schools and teachers! bank bailouts!").
this woman just bombed it. the answer she gave made NO grammatical sense whatsoever, displayed her astounding ignorance of even basic US politics (we're like months out from prop 8, she's MISS CALIFORNIA, and she isn't aware of the legality of gay marriage in california?? really?), AND she managed to piss off any right-minded gay person, which is really fucking dumb if your whole thing is pageants and the pageant community, 98% of the male participants in (hairdressers, dressmakers, coaches, producers, etc) are gay.
she failed at a relatively simple task, and deserved to be judged accordingly.


as for him calling her a bitch/cunt/whatever: really, whatever. i don't subscribe to the whole 'gender specific pejoratives are the WORST POSSIBLE THING' bs, personally. they're words (insults) just like any other, and i don't see how it would have been better for him to call her a jerk or an asshole, etc. if it's just that he got pissed at her about it at ALL that's so terrible to some of you, then....really what do you expect? everyone should be pissed about this kind of inequality in our society - it's ridiculous and infuriating. so he gets emotional about an issue which applies directly to him and renders him civilly unequal to another american because of his sexuality? shock horror!


post script: i actually don't have any affinity for perez, at all. his blog is annoying and hacky and he's a douche about fat people now that he's not one of us anymore. but he's in the right, on this one thing. imo.

p.p.s: i think it goes without saying that she has a right to her opinion. of course she does. but her opinion here was offensive to a huge percentage of america, intolerant, backhanded, and worst of all: terribly articulated. perez was a judge, and he JUDGED HER ANSWER. it's what he was there to do.

in before the lock?

[NoWayOut]

Originally Posted by Sandie_Zitkus

Who had the right to say what they did?

The bigoted young immature southern Christian woman?

or

The flamboyant outspoken - sometimes offensive - gay man?



Both.

Who said anything about a southern woman? And how is she a bigot? I don't think she's immature either, but that can be debated, although if you listen to her, not very well.

[NoWayOut]

Originally Posted by elle camino

what?
she's a professional pageant contestant. the skill set is REALLY brief: walk in heels, successfully apply makeup/gowns/swimwear, and answer questions EXACTLY LIKE THIS. she's had EXTENSIVE training and practice at giving good 'pageant answers', and the questions are almost always political in nature. and the thing about it is they don't even have to be brilliant or incisive answers! from what i understand the deal is: you're asked a political hot-button-type question (like the contestant after her got one about bank bailouts), and you give the most bland, middle-of-the-road, inoffensive answer you can muster, OR (preferably) you ignore the question and pretend you were asked a totally different question which nobody could possibly disagree with your answer to ("bank bailouts is an alliteration, and i think learning about alliteration is GREAT and AS AN AMERICAN i support learning and schools and teachers! bank bailouts!").

So, given this, she should get extra credit for actually being willing to answer the question honestly.

this woman just bombed it. the answer she gave made NO grammatical sense whatsoever, displayed her astounding ignorance of even basic US politics (we're like months out from prop 8, she's MISS CALIFORNIA, and she isn't aware of the legality of gay marriage in california?? really?), AND she managed to piss off any right-minded gay person, which is really fucking dumb if your whole thing is pageants and the pageant community, 98% of the male participants in (hairdressers, dressmakers, coaches, producers, etc) are gay.
she failed at a relatively simple task, and deserved to be judged accordingly.

How did she bomb it, and how is she not aware of the legality of gay marriage in California? She just lived through Californians choosing same-sex or heterosexual marriage. Second, these judges should leave their bias out of it.

From what I can tell, she succeeded at a task most dodge, and deserved better than she got.

as for him calling her a bitch/cunt/whatever: really, whatever. i don't subscribe to the whole 'gender specific pejoratives are the WORST POSSIBLE THING' bs, personally. they're words (insults) just like any other, and i don't see how it would have been better for him to call her a jerk or an asshole, etc. if it's just that he got pissed at her about it at ALL that's so terrible to some of you, then....really what do you expect? everyone should be pissed about this kind of inequality in our society - it's ridiculous and infuriating. so he gets emotional about an issue which applies directly to him and renders him civilly unequal to another american because of his sexuality? shock horror!

I expect him to have an ounce of dignity and respect for someone willing to speak her mind and answer his question honestly. I expect him to not act like a whining, immature bigot who thinks his opinion is the only valid one. That is what I expect. He himself was ridiculous and infuriating.

post script: i actually don't have any affinity for perez, at all. his blog is annoying and hacky and he's a douche about fat people now that he's not one of us anymore. but he's in the right, on this one thing. imo.

p.p.s: i think it goes without saying that she has a right to her opinion. of course she does. but her opinion here was offensive to a huge percentage of america, intolerant, backhanded, and worst of all: terribly articulated. perez was a judge, and he JUDGED HER ANSWER. it's what he was there to do.

in before the lock?

He was there to be a fair, impartial judge, or at least, he was supposed to be. In actuality, he was there to push his own agenda, nothing more. He judged her answer based on how it matched up with his own beliefs. That is wrong, he's supposed to be fair.

I am a journalist. I hear answers that I disagree with all the time. But I am supposed to be fair and impartial and write my stories that way.

Mario Lavandeira (his real name) was 100% wrong on this one. Even MSNBC.com, the site of what is easily the most liberal cable network, has a column that opines he needs to just shut up.

[Sandie_Zitkus]

Originally Posted by NoWayOut

Who said anything about a southern woman? And how is she a bigot? I don't think she's immature either, but that can be debated.

So see, that shows how little I care about this subject.

[Ample Pie]

Right to her opinion? Check.

And Hilton (of whom I am not particularly fond) had the right to ask that question...come on folks, where's she from? Is it really that much of a shock that someone might ask her about an issue that was so HUGE in her state that it spilled over into the rest of the country? Should she really have been so gobsmacked by that question? I mean, a question about oil prices maybe, but one that touched on Prop 8? I don't think so. Especially since, as someone above mentioned, she's a pageant person--looking appropriate in swimsuits and evening gowns and answering questions is kind of a BIG part of a pastime that she chose for herself.

The question was fair. The manner in which she answered it (I'm not referring to the content of the answer, mind you*) made her sound dim and unpolished, which is, you know, part of the whole pageant bs--poise.

*though, yes, I do disagree with her.

[Les Toil]

Originally Posted by Freestyle Fez

Sure it was a loaded question, but she could have given a much less moronic answer than she did. .

Calling her a bitch and a cunt ON CAMERA, as well as giving her a score of ZERO, one would have to assume her stance on gay marriage and her voicing her opinion in an honest manner was something he took great, great, great personal issue with. Impartiality overwhelmed his job as an impartial judge. It was a scorching question that should have never been considered for such a moronic and shallow event.

LOL...you just KNOW the other contestant thanked God above she dodged that Prop 8 bullet that night!

Calling her a bitch and a cunt will allow her to sue the pants off of him for public defamation of character. Lawyers must be ringing her phone off the hook.

[Spanky]

This thread should be moved to Hyd......OOPS!

Sorry.


I still think Les is right on. So nyah*.



*best I can come up with without "crossing lines'.

[Mack27]

He does come off like an ass, there was no reason for that vitriol. She definitely could have answered better, but I give her credit for answering honestly. Just because her definition of the word "marriage" means a man and a woman doesn't mean she's a bigot, that's ridiculous.

Look at how the winner answered the same question on the Today show.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Kristen Dalton and Carrie Prejean may have finished a close 1-2 in last weekend's Miss USA pageant -- and really, looking at them, it's tough to see much difference in the two tall, smiley blonds -- but there is one area on which they don't agree: that gay marriage thing.

Prejean, Miss California, was asked by pageant judge Perez Hilton about gay marriage. She responded that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, an answer she later said cost her the title.

On the "Today" show Wednesday, Dalton was asked how she would have answered the question.

"I think all couples should be able to be recognized legally," she told Al Roker, who is neither tall nor blond, but usually very smiley. "And they should be able to enter into a union."

But she also came to the defense of her fellow tall, blond, smiley contestant.

"I respect her opinion. The beauty of America is that we all have a right to our own opinion," she explained. "I'm proud of her for speaking from her heart."

End of discussion? Ha.

That answer was sneaky, she avoided using the word "Marriage." Looking at the 2 answers its not inconceivable that they have the same exact position.

"I think it's great Americans are able to choose one or the other," Prejean answered. "We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.

"And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.

"No offence to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a man and a woman."

[Mini]

I am amused because I hate everyone involved in this debacle.