A lawsuit against celebrity gossip
blogger Perez Hilton, aka Armando Lavandeira, Jr., has been filed in
Cleveland, Ohio, claiming $25 million in damages. The lawsuit stems
from a web post where a reader's email was displayed after she called
him a “fat gay pig.”
Diane Wargo's email address was posted
on PerezHilton.com along with her rant about Angelina Jolie. Wargo
wrote in an email to Perez Hilton: “Perez you are a FAT GAY PIG!
Angelina is a ugly whore! You love her because she is a fag lover!
Her brother is a gay little jerk just like your fat ugly ass!
MANGELINA is a disgusting gross skank!”
While her comments were made in an
email, Wargo has stated that the website's privacy policy should have
protected her from disclosure. The policy states, “PerezHilton.com
respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it all times.”
Still, on December 27, 2007 Wargo's
comments, her full name and email, and a response from her employer
were included in a post titled “You are an idiot.”
Wargo, who had used a company email
system to make her remarks, was fired from her job after receiving
numerous harassing phone calls and emails at work. Supervisors also
reported received numerous phone calls.
Lawyers argue that Hilton purposefully
retaliated against Wargo, knowing full well that his posting would
result in harassment and possible dismissal.
“The fact that Hilton left the
private information up on his website after Wargo and her children
received death threats speaks volumes about him and those that
continue to sponsor him,” Wargo's attorney Brian Spitz said in a
prepared statement.