Perez Hilton claims that he invented being an influencer before Paris Hilton
Perez Hilton arrives at Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape To Margaritaville” LA Premiere Engagement at the Dolby Theatre on 18 February, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Amanda Edwards/Getty)
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has claimed that he is the “original influencer”, insisting he “did it first” before his namesake Paris Hilton.
In her documentary This is Paris, released earlier this year, Paris Hilton said that she felt “responsible” for how her fame had shaped the use of social media, and added: “Everyone says I’m the original influencer but sometimes I feel like I helped create a monster.”
But Perez Hilton was obviously irked by her comment, and appearing on the FUBAR Radio show “Access All Areas”, he said: “Now that I’m officially like, not even the grandfather of social media, I am the original influencer.
“Because there was nobody doing it before me. Paris Hilton, whom I love, and I named myself after, has incorrectly been going around and calling herself the original influencer. She wasn’t!”
He continued: “I’m not hot, I’m not an it girl anymore. But I’m still internationally known.
“I still daily do interviews, even when not promoting my book.
“People call on me to be an expert in a talking head and I will always have a career. I have already outlasted not just my social media peers, but I’ve outlasted many of the celebrities that I started talking about back in 2004, when I began.”
“It’s just a fact,” he added. “Hated as I may be or am, I’m an icon and I’m timeless.
“And I’m like a cockroach, you are never going to get rid of me. So I have a lot of insight to offer because I did it first.”
Perez Hilton regrets “thinking it was OK” to out gay celebrities.
In his memoir released last month, TMI: My Life in Scandal, Perez Hilton insisted that he was moving on from his “mean” and “cruel” coverage of celebrities.
He admitted that he had mounted a campaign of negativity against Ariana Grande after she rejected his offer to manage her career aged 18.
“I was really hurt, so for years afterwards I was super petty toward Ariana on my website and on social media,” he wrote.
When his book was published, Hilton also told the BBC: “I regret that I thought it was OK to out celebrities. That is something I no longer believe.”
In the 2000s, Hilton outed multiple celebrities through his salacious gossip blog, including Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris.
