Generally, Perez Hilton pushes the boundaries of taste with his penis illustrations and Photoshopped dabs of coke that he so lovingly adds pictures of celebs on his blog. Rarely do his posts register as criminal activity though - except for one. Yesterday, Hilton posted an upskirt photo of Miley Cyrus on his Twitter page in which Cyrus was not wearing underwear and he’s finding himself in some serious hot water. That’s due to the fact that Miley, at 17, is underage and the photo is considered child pornography. (Not that it wouldn’t be in bad taste regardless of her age.)
He Tweeted “If you are easily offended, do NOT click here … Oh, Miley! Warning: truly not for the easily offended!” but quickly took the post down after realizing his boneheaded mistake. Jeffrey Douglas, an attorney commenting on the situation, told Salon.com that the penalty for distributing child porn online is harsh, saying “he could be prosecuted on the state or federal level — or both — with a conviction potentially resulting in a 15 year sentence and lifetime registration as a sex offender.” Yikes. This would certainly make an example of Hilton if he’s punished.
UPDATE: Perez Hilton has responded to the photo issue on his blog and his Twitter page by calling the whole thing a non-troversy. Hilton says that he only posted the photo of Miley, in which he says she is clearly wearing underpants, as a lesson to the starlet about exiting a car in a more ladylike fashion. “Do you think Miley is that stupid to be out in public without panties? Do you think I’m stupid enough to post a photo of Miley if she’s not wearing any underwear down there? Sure I like to be controversial but I don’t want to go to jail,” he said in a video posted to his blog. So then yanking the photo down was all just a part of a ploy for media attention? We guess? Job well done, Perez. Job well done.
[Photo: Getty Images]
