Perez Hilton Won't Shut Up

Image credit: Black Eyed Peas: George Pimentel/WireImage.com; Hilton: Perez Hilton/AP Images

Hilton claims to have matured from the experience. Says the blogger, ''I would have probably been one of those people that said, 'He had it coming.' Or I would have laughed. But now having gone through it, I really leave it more compassionate.'' Well, slightly. Three days after the incident, as reports circled that Michael Jackson had been hospitalized, Hilton wrote a post suggesting it could be a ''stunt'' to get out of his concert obligations; once Jackson was pronounced dead, readers raged, and even Hilton's frenemy Pete Wentz took him to task on Twitter. ''If Lindsay Lohan were hospitalized tomorrow for exhaustion or dehydration again, I'd make fun of it,'' says the blogger. ''That's what I do. And if she died later, I would genuinely be sad because I like Lindsay Lohan, even though she's a mess.''

The controversies haven't been bad for business. According to Henry Copeland, who's in charge of the site's ad sales, no drop-off has occurred. Studios, television networks, retailers, and others can shell out up to $72,000 a day to surround the site's content with ads for their products. The power of Perez has also bled into the music industry. An early supporter of such artists as Gaga, Hilton has parlayed his ear for hits into his own soon-to-launch record-label imprint on Warner Bros. Hilton will announce his first artist by the end of July. ''I've earned the trust and respect of my readers when it comes to my musical suggestions because there is no Payola Perez,'' he says. He will also go live with a ''cousin'' site by the end of the summer; Copeland says there's already a major sponsor lined up for the site's debut. Even with all this planned expansion, Hilton hopes to transition away from his intense blogging schedule (up at 4 a.m.; seven-day workweeks; no vacations) so he can start a family by 35 — which he hopes to do even if he's still single. But it's clear that the baby he's most worried about is his blog. ''I'm like the McDonald's of the Internet — a billion served,'' he says. ''There's a lot of stuff that may clog your arteries, but there are salads that I offer. You can have a sensible meal at PerezHilton.com.'' You just might feel a little guilty about it the next morning.

More Perez Hilton on PopWatch:
Perez Hilton on Lady Gaga, Funny or Die, and why he's good for gay America