Entertainment

She Called Out Perez Hilton & He Fired Back

by Kadeen Griffiths

In the past, when a celebrity had a nude picture scandal, it was that celebrity's fault for taking the photos. In an unfair double standard, female celebrities risked their careers over scandals like this in particular. However, when America's sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence had her nude pictures leaked, the victim-blaming finally got the spotlight as being part of the problem. And when Lawrence herself spoke to Vanity Fair about the nude photos, she pulled no punches in calling out society, especially people who posted or looked at her pictures, for what was basically a sex crime. However, she also called out Perez Hilton for his role in posting the pictures and Hilton fired right back at Lawrence on Monday. If his first video seemed disingenuous, then his second one was downright unacceptable.

Hilton posted his original apology video in September 2014, and in it he apologized for Lawrence for being one of the first to post her pictures to his website, claiming that he was thinking as an entertainment journalist who needed to jump on a breaking story and not as a human being who needed to not post someone's nude pictures to his website without their consent. Despite his repeated statements that he was not trying to make this about him, Hilton frequently mentions that he had been receiving criticism from people calling him a rapist and a sex offender, as if that is in any way equal to what Lawrence was going through. The original video can be seen below.

In her Vanity Fair interview, Lawrence was unsympathetic to Hilton's plight. "He took it down because people got pissed, and that's the only reason why. And then I had to watch his apology. And what he basically said was ‘I just didn't think about it’... ‘I just didn't think about it’ is not an excuse. That is the exact issue itself." It was a thoughtful and powerful statement, that carelessness is just as much a part of the problem as intentionally seeking to hurt her. After all, for many people who looked up the photos, they just didn't see that what they were doing was in any way wrong. If it's on the Internet, then why not look at it? As Lawrence herself pointed out, it was like she wasn't even considered a person.

So when I heard that Hilton had posted a second video in response to Lawrence, I don't know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't this. Apparently, Hilton is angry at Lawrence for her refusal to accept his apology. In fact, he starts out his new video by warning her not to watch the rest of it — mainly because he goes on to curse her out in it. Thankfully, he avoids any discriminatory language or insults, but he drops the f-bomb a lot over the course of trying to make his point. And what was his point? According to him, in not accepting his apology, Lawrence is making him feel like she doesn't see how much he's grown from the intentionally careless celebrity blogger he was years ago and that makes her wrong.

"She mentions how she was forced to watch the video I made right after her naked photos surfaced online. In that video, I apologized to her sincerely from my heart," says Hilton in the video. "And I did so more than once. And I was tempted to apologize to her again, but... No. F*** that. Life isn't always what you want. And you don't always get what you ask for." The last I checked, Lawrence didn't ask him for anything except perhaps maybe to take the pictures down. In fact, Hilton mentioned in his first video that Lawrence's publicist never contacted him, so she didn't even ask him for that much. Here's the thing. If an apology is truly meant, then the giving of that apology isn't changed by how the person responds to it.

You cannot get angry at someone for refusing to accept your apology. If you do, nine times out of ten you were only apologizing to make yourself feel or look better instead of because you're actually sorry. And especially in cases like this one, it is entirely Lawrence's choice whether or not Hilton's apology was something that she wanted to accept. She was the victim of a very harmful sex crime that she is still learning to live with. He had a role in perpetuating the nightmare for her. It was nice that he apologized, but she owes him nothing. And the fact that he felt the need to post a second video cursing her out for the forgiveness he feels he is entitled to is just wrong.