TV personality, blogger, columnist, actor and celebrity gossip raconteur Perez Hilton says he had an unforgettable 2017.
Beyond the hurricane of Hollywood-related sexual harassment headlines which provided him a bottomless source of material, Hilton welcomed his third child in October.
For a recap of the year's top stories in entertainment, along with some sneak-peek predictions for 2018, I spoke with Hilton for what turned out to be a high-energy, freeform interview - one that began with his projection that we will hear much more about a Maine-born country music artist this year.
Perez: Since I'm speaking to Maine, I want to tell you about one of my favorite musicians. She's an up and coming country music artist from Maine called Kalie Shorr. She lived in Maine until she was 18 or 19 and then moved to Nashville where she's been making big waves. I expect you will hear from your local Maine girl Kalie Shorr in 2018. She's going on tour with '90s country icon Sara Evans and another country singer named RaeLynn.
(Note: Hilton took early notice of Shorr after seeing her videos of original songs and covers on YouTube. In 2012, he invited her to perform at his birthday party as opening act for The Backstreet Boys)
TME: Thanks for the heads-up on Kalie. I will certainly take the time to investigate her music.
The news was often dominated by entertainment-related stories in 2017. How do you begin to recap the top stories?
Hilton: I think we have to begin with all of the women who came forward in 2017 to share their stories of the rampant sexual abuse and misconduct throughout entertainment.
If you look at morning television, the landscape sure has changed. Matt Lauer is gone from the Today Show and Charlie Rose is gone from CBS and PBS. I'm sure Michael Strahan from ABC's Good Morning America is very nervous that something is going to go down with him. I say that kind of tongue-in-cheek but it was a very serious thing that went down this year. And it's almost the antithesis of what went down in 2007. That was the year that I call girls-gone-wild – the year that Britney Spears shaved her head and Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton were arrested. Also, Kim Kardashian's adult video was released that year.
2017 was the year of the woman-gone-wild, but not wild in a negative way. They became tired of all the stuff that they had been subjected to and finally began speaking up and finally started to feel supported. Without a doubt that is the biggest story of the year and one that will continue on into 2018. We'll start to see the repercussions from all of that.
TME: We keep hearing that many big figures in the entertainment industry were well aware of what people like Weinstein were up to yet they remained silent. How much of that is true in your opinion?
Perez: You know certain things but you don't really know the extent of it. I knew Harvey Weinstein had the reputation for being a bully but I didn't know that he was doing these things to women, or the extent to which he was doing it.
I knew Matt Lauer had had a lot of affairs. It was reported widely that he had an affair with his former Today Show host Natalie Morales. She ended up getting moved to Los Angeles and is now the host of "Access Hollywood." I don't know who's next but I do know that the story does not end in 2017.
TME: What about some celebs who had a very good year? Who's on your list?
Perez: Meghan Markle had a huge 2017 – an American girl marrying a prince and making history in the U.K. Until this marriage, British royals were not allowed to marry divorced people. Also, she'll be the first bi-racial person in the royal family. That's all very news-worthy to me.
I am hungry and desperate for new blood and I love the story of rapper Cardi B, who had a huge hit in 2017 with "Bodak Yellow." She's a larger-than-life personality who had a great year and I'm happy for her.
Finally, I continue to be astounded at how much drama Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez generate individually and collectively. He canceled his tour this year and was very vocal about his faith and the relationship he has with his pastors. A lot of people in his camp find that very interesting.
Selena Gomez got together with The Weeknd, broke up with The Weeknd, had some rather serious health issues, then reconciled with Justin Bieber. Her family is not down with that. Her mom was hospitalized after getting into a fight with Selena over Justin Bieber. And this is the wildest one: Selena Gomez's mother and Selena both unfollowed each other on Instagram.
TME: How about one more prediction for what you think will be a big story in 2018?
Perez: I'll say that we'll see more Kardashian drama. We did get some this year with Kylie Jenner – barely 20 years old – getting pregnant. That family makes me thankful. With everything that happened to me this year, it made me really appreciate the Kardashians. I want more Kardashian drama!
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar