Perez Hilton has built his career as a gossip blogger since the early 2000s, writing some not-so-nice things about celebs such as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
In a recent episode of “Red Table Talk: The Estefans,” Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, discussed cancel culture and how he has accepted the fact that fans may never forgive him for his skewering of young stars back in the day.
“I’ve accepted that, in the minds of the overwhelming majority, I am irredeemable,” the 43-year-old told hosts Gloria Estefan, her daughter Emily Estefan and her niece Lili Estefan.
“There is nothing I could ever do — change, grow, evolve, mature — to make things right with my past. Like, not even if I donated all of the money that I’ve made over the last year. If I gave it all away, they would say, ‘OK, that’s nice,'” he continued. “‘It still doesn’t erase his past.’ Or, ‘That’s great. He’s still a d-bag.’ Or, ‘What an idiot, I can’t believe he gave away all his money.’ I do believe that a lot of people view cancel culture as a form of entertainment.”
The “Celebrity Big Brother” star was also asked by Emily if he felt “powerful” when he wrote hurtful things about these young stars. “The word ‘power,’ to me it never resonated because that would imply that I can force people to do things and I can force people to think a certain way,” Hilton replied.
“I could have influence, but I’d like to view it more like opportunity. I had the opportunity to share, and people have the opportunity to receive,” he continued. “I viewed what I did as shining the light. I’m shining the light on celebrities that get it right and those that get it wrong, those that are behaving badly.”
The media personality compared celebrity gossip to controlled substances. “I was a drug addict and attention was my drug. I knew what I was doing was bad, and I kept doing it, and I kept being rewarded for it.”
“You know, I’ve been canceled and am canceled over and over again by the public,” he admitted. “Cancel culture has become so accepted in so many circles.”
Earlier this year, Hilton expressed remorse for his brutal past treatment of Britney Spears following the release of the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary. The doc explored the media’s role in the pop star’s tumultuous life.
“I regret a lot or most of what I said about Britney,” he told “Good Morning Britain” at the time. “Thankfully, hopefully, many of us get older and wiser.”
Hilton was infamous back in 2007 when he called the “Toxic” singer an “unfit mother.” He also created T-shirts written with the message “Why couldn’t it be Britney?” on his site when actor Heath Ledger passed away in 2008.