The Perez Hilton Podcast W/ Chris Booker: The Gossip Mongers

People dispensing gossip to the rest of us used to be a function of the newspaper via people like Hedda Hopper or Louella Parsons. Then TV and the internet brought us Rona Barrett, and in the 2000s, blogs, social media, and YouTube brought us people like Perez Hilton and the collective crudeness called TMZ.

The Perez Hilton Podcast with Chris Booker has been around for ten years and over 500 episodes. Clearly, Hilton and Booker have been doing something right. The format is straightforward, with Hilton dispensing gossip with a childlike delight that’s hard to fake.

Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. was born March 23, 1978), and is known professionally as Perez Hilton. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid photos, over which he has added his own captions or “doodles”. His blog has garnered controversy for its attitude, its former practice of outing alleged closeted celebrities, and its role in the increasing coverage of celebrities in all forms of media.

Hilton has written four books, runs two YouTube channels, has appeared in various films and television shows, and has acted in two off-Broadway shows. In 2018, he was dubbed “the original celebrity social media influencer” by BroadwayWorld.