Paris Hilton - Controversies

Paris Hilton closeup

Paris Hilton has been quoted as saying that she is the "iconic blonde of the decade"' and compared herself to Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe (a claim she denied in the May 2007 issue of Harper's Bazaar). She will reportedly appear in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the world's "Most Overrated Celebrity". In a poll conducted by the Associated Press and AOL, Hilton was voted the second "Worst Celebrity Role Model of 2006", behind Britney Spears. Critics suggest that Hilton epitomizes the title of famous for being famos; echoing that sentiment, the Associated Press conducted what they called an experiment in February 2007, trying not to report on Hilton for a whole week.

Hilton recently posed nude, covered in gold paint, to promote "Rich Prosecco", a canned version of an Italian sparkling wine.

In August 2008, Ms. Hilton released a satiric video stating that she would run in the 2008 US Presidential Elections. The video was a response to a John McCain campaign advertisement comparing the celebrity of Democratic nominee Barack Obama to Hilton, in which images of the celebrity were used without her knowledge. McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds praised the video, jokingly saying that "Paris has a more substantive energy plan than Barack Obama."

Feud with Nicole Richie

In April 2005, Hilton announced that she severed both personal and professional ties with Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie [6]. Neither party fully commented on the reason why, but insiders suggest the feud started when Richie played a copy of the "One night in Paris" sex tape at a party.

South Park Parody

She was the subject of a South Park episode entitled "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" in which she opens a store called "Stupid Spoiled Whore" selling girls everything they need to emulate her, such as a perfume dubbed Skanque.

Vote or Die

In November 2004, Hilton participated in Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Vote or Die campaign, to encourage youths to vote in the Presidential election. She drew criticism when it was revealed she did not vote, nor had she even registered to do so. Ironically, she would somewhat fulfill her theoretical obligation to "die" when the promoters of her film, House of Wax, employed a "See Paris die" advertisement campaign, highlighting the death scene of her character in the film.

Hacked address book

On February 19, 2005, the contents of Hilton's personal T-Mobile account were posted to the Internet.[7] They included phone numbers (which included many celebrities such as Nicky Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Fred Durst, Eminem, Lindsay Lohan, Alsou, Nicole Richie, Jay-Z, Anna Kournikova, Snoop Dogg, Andy Roddick, Kimberly Stewart, Avril Lavigne, Frankie Muniz, Ashlee Simpson), notes (with even more numbers and email addresses and reminders such as her date to host Saturday Night Live), and thirty-five digital snapshots. In two of the leaked photos, Hilton is standing topless next to the MTV Latin America's VJ Eglantina Zingg, whom she kisses. The images from the hacked phone can be seen at CallingParis.com. In other leaked videos, she is seen making out with celebrity lesbian Ingrid Casares and Playboy Playmate Nicole Lenz. [8]. Many of her notes showed heavy usage of Internet slang. Her address book can be viewed here [9].

Within days, it was revealed [10] that Hilton's account could be accessed by anyone guessing the answer to the "forgotten password" challenge question she chose: "What is your favorite pet's name?" As the answer to this question is a matter of public record, [11] an anonymous party was able to guess it and notify the press.

Allegations of racism

In 2004, Hilton was accused of using racial slurs. Carole Aye Maung, reporter for the British tabloid News of the World[12], said that she viewed a tape that showed Hilton and Tommy Hilfiger model Brandon Davis in conversation with two African-American men who asked Hilton if she would model for them. After the men left the scene, Hilton allegedly referred to them as "dumb niggers." Reports said the tape was originally discovered by Star Magazine. After these reports, Hilton issued a statement saying "I am deeply hurt by recent reports. Anyone who knows me knows that this is not me. I love everybody and am not a person who discriminates against anyone--ever." Later, Davis told The National Enquirer that Hilton frequently used the word "nigger" to refer to blacks and that she had "puts down Jews and other minorities, too." Davis said he ended his friendship with Hilton.[13][14]

In January 2007 a video surfaced on the commercial website ParisExposed.com in which Paris Hilton uses homophobic and ethnic slurs. Hilton appears to mock African-Americans and Jews at a party during the song We Are Family by Sister Sledge. The video was found among Hilton's personal and medical documents auctioned off after she allegedly failed to pay the bill on a storage facility. Hilton's publicist Elliot Mintz confirmed to the New York Post its authenticity saying she had obviously been drinking. On February 3, 2007 Hilton obtained a temporary injunction against ParisExposed.com, closing down the website for a short period of time before it went back online.

Carl's Jr advertisement

Another controversy involving Hilton was her appearance in a Carl's Jr. television advertisement, originally broadcast in May 2005. In the commercial, which introduces the restaurant's "Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger", Hilton wears a provocative swimsuit and soaps up a Bentley automobile and herself before taking a big bite out of the burger. According to Forbes Magazine, Carl's Jr. paid Hilton $400,000 for filming in this commercial.

This has drawn criticism from television watchdog groups, including the Parents Television Council. The research director for the PTC, Melissa Caldwell, says; "This commercial is basically soft-core porn. The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouth - it's very suggestive and very titillating." The Los Angeles, California based group says they plan to mobilize their more than 1 million members to contact the restaurant chain and voice their concern.[15]

Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr., says the group needs to "get a life... This isn't Janet Jackson; there is no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts; it's a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car." Puzder was referring to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy when he spoke of Jackson. Puzder says he showed the ad to his three children, ages 7 to 12, and says they weren't corrupted.

FOX News host Bill O'Reilly speculated that Hilton did not in fact eat the burgers she endorsed and was therefore dishonest, inviting her to come on his show The O'Reilly Factor and eat one of the burgers on the air in order to prove him wrong. Hilton has not thus far acknowledged the invitation.

In addition to featuring the ad on their website, Carl's Jr. has also built a separate site to play a longer version of the commercial. A similar ad with Hilton for Hardee's hamburger chain (also owned by Carl's Jr. parent corporation CKE Restaurants) aired in 2005.

Before this deal with Carl's Jr., Hilton lost out on a $750,000 multi-commercial deal with Burger King because the company did not feel her sexy image was a good fit with their brand.[16][17]

The ad was spoofed in the 2006 movie Date Movie.

Slander Lawsuit

On October 13, 2005, diamond heiress and actress Zeta Graff filed a lawsuit against Hilton for slander. The lawsuit alleges that Hilton deliberately gave a false story to The New York Post in order to humiliate Graff. Graff is seeking ten million dollars in damages.

According to the story as originally published in The New York Post, Graff confronted Hilton in the London nightclub Kabaret, tried to rip a diamond necklace off Hilton's neck, and had to be restrained and thrown out of the club by security [18]. It was later revealed that the story was only partially true. Graff and Hilton did meet in the nightclub that night, but had only a brief argument. Hilton tried to have Graff thrown out but the club's owner refused. Hilton and her friends left the club in protest while Graff remained behind.

In her deposition, Hilton denied planting the story in The New York Post and even claimed not to be aware of it until much later. However, Hilton's former publicist Robert Shuter gave sworn testimony that he and Paris worked together to create the story, and he was told by her to call The New York Post and give them the story as an anonymous source [19].

Driving violations

Paris Hilton's booking photograph

In September 2006, Hilton was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of 0.08%, the level at which it is illegal to drive in California. Hilton's driving license was subsequently suspended in November 2006, and in January 2007 she pleaded no contest to the alcohol-related reckless driving charge. Her punishment was 36 months' probation and fines of about $1,500. On January 15, 2007, Hilton was pulled over for driving with a suspended license and signed a document acknowledging that she was not permitted to drive. On February 27, 2007 Hilton was caught driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone, again with a suspended license. She also did not have her headlights on even though it was after dark. Prosecutors in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney charged that those actions, along with the failure to enroll in a court-ordered alcohol education program, constituted a violation of the terms of her probation.

On May 4, 2007 Hilton was sentenced by Judge Michael T. Sauer to 45 days in jail for violating her probation. Initially, Hilton planned to appeal the sentence, and supported an online petition asking California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon. The petition was created and organized on May 5, 2007 by Joshua Morales. In response, various opponents started a counter-petition to maintain the sentence. Both petitions attracted tens of thousands of signatures. Hilton later switched lawyers and dropped her plans to appeal.

Hilton was required to begin her jail term on June 5, 2007, and checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Facility, an all-female jail in Lynwood, California after attending the 2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3, 2007. With credit for good behavior, it was anticipated that Hilton would only serve 23 days of her 45-day sentence; however, in an unexpected turn of events, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca signed orders on the morning of June 7, reassigning Hilton to 40 days of home confinement with an electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition. Baca commented on the release saying, "My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice," contesting that under normal circumstances, Hilton would not have served any time in jail, and he added that "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status ... She got more time in jail". On the same day that Hilton was released from jail, Judge Michael Sauer summoned her to reappear in court the following morning (June 8) as the sentencing statement had explicitly said she would serve time in jail with "No work furlough. No work release. No electronic monitoring." At the hearing he declined to be briefed by Hilton's attorney in private chambers on the nature of her condition and sent her back to jail to serve out her original 45-day sentence. Upon hearing the sentence, Hilton shouted, "It's not right!" and started screaming, requesting to hug her mother who was present in the courtroom. Concern about Hilton's condition led to her being moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and she was moved back to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13.

While in jail, Hilton was influenced by prison minister Marty Angelo: Hilton referred to starting a "new beginning" during her interview with talk show host Larry King on June 28, 2007, two days after being released from jail, and quoted from Angelo's autobiography, entitled Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. On June 9, 2007 Marty Angelo petitioned sentencing Sauer asking to serve out the remainder of Hilton's jail sentence if the judge would release her to an alternative treatment program, but the petition was turned down.

Hilton was released from jail on June 26, 2007. In total, Hilton served 22 days in detention, counting her day-long home confinement. Hilton announced she would be visiting Rwanda in November 2007 as a post-jail vow, but has since postponed the trip until an undetermined date in 2008.

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Nicolae Sfetcu