PEREZ HILTON - GOSSIP PAYS

Internet gossip Perez Hilton -- real name Mario Lavandeira -- who started his celebrity blog on a shoestring out of his West Hollywood apartment in 2005, now draws so many readers to his site that advertisers pay as much as $54,000 to run a one-day ad pac kage on it, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Friday). According to the newspaper, the PerezHilton.com website now draws about 7 million page views a day. Hilton/Lavandeira may need the money to fight a spate of copyright-infringement lawsuits that have been filed against him for posting stills from other websites and music videos. Hilton claims "fair use," saying that he alters to the photos and videos with his commentaries about the performers who appear in them.

13/06/2008