Mi gente, get this: OG Influencer Perez Hilton is officially Latino! Yes, you read that right. Perez Hilton, the longtime gossip-slinging online celebrity blogger, recently weighed in on the Latino vote for Trump, as a Cuban-American from Miami. And the internet collectively said: “Wait … Perez Hilton is Latino?”
This revelation had followers saying things like, “I can’t believe I find out that Perez Hilton is Latino after 20 years.” But it’s true. Perez is as Cuban as a pastelito de queso served at the La Carreta ventanita on Kendall Drive and 117th Avenue in Miami. Yeah, he’s seriously Latino.
But, over the years, none of us seemed to notice the “Perez” part of his multi-million dollar persona and brand. He’s just been our go-to guy for all things celebrity news. Then the 2024 United State Presidential Election happened, and our favorite gossip guy dropped a political bombshell on his fans. Instead of his typical dive into celeb breakups, and the latest sad news on One Direction’s Liam Payne, Perez Hilton chimed in on politics as a Cuban-American born and raised in Miami! ¿Como?
Perez Hilton’s Recent Latino Vote Comments Left Fans Shocked
Like many Cuban-Americans from Miami, Perez Hilton’s parents escaped Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba for a better life in the United States. “Both of my parents were born in Cuba,” Perez Hilton told his TikTok followers after the election results were in and showed that a majority of Latinos voted for Donald Trump. “I was raised in Miami, which is a minority-dominated city and county. Latinos make up the majority of Dade County.”
He titled his TikTok reel “Why so many Latinos voted for Trump,” announcing that he was going to voice what many people were saying privately. And all of this came from his POV as a Latino from a Cuban household. “If you don’t know this, I am Cuban,” he said.
As he once told Forbes magazine: “My whole family fled the Castro regime, fled to Miami with no money, and had to make a life for themselves there.”
How He Became the OG Influencer ‘Perez Hilton’
Growing up, he loved celebrity everything, a passion he developed after his father died of a brain aneurysm when he was only 14. “My role models growing up were Madonna, Gloria Estefan, and Oprah Winfrey,” he told Podcast Magazine. “So the ‘celebrity world’ was always my world. In some ways, it saved me. But it also messed me up majorly. It became my healing and my escape. It also became my crutch, because I never really processed anything.”
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He studied journalism and graduated from New York University in 2000. Just a few years later, in 2004, he launched his gossip site in 2004 (originally titled PageSixSixSix.com), aiming to capture the essence of Hollywood’s outrageousness. “I didn’t have a MySpace in 2004. The only thing I did to promote my blogging was I posted a bulletin on Friendster,” he explains. “Friendster was around before MySpace…That was it. There wasn’t a YouTube, a Facebook a Twitter … The landscape was so different.”
With his catchy pen/stage name, “Perez Hilton,” he mixed his Cuban flair with the zeitgeist of the 2000s — Paris Hilton was the “it” guy, after all. He was the first to turn Hollywood into his personal telenovela. The rest, as they say, is chisme.
Why He’s So Famous (Hint: It Involves Doodles and Miley Cyrus)
Perez Hilton wasn’t just an online personality; he was the online personality before influencers were a thing. He was the guy who posted not-so-flattering celebrity photos with a mustache or doodle horns. If a pop star even hinted at a scandal, Perez would be there, digital pen in hand.
With hits in the hundreds of millions, PerezHilton.com was the guilty pleasure of America’s cubicles and dorm rooms, bringing the latest on everyone from Lindsay Lohan to Miley Cyrus.
Over the years, Perez evolved — kind of. These days, he’s a proud father, podcaster, LGBTQ+ activist, and mini-Goldendoodle owner, living in Hollywood while occasionally weighing in on serious topics like politics, which was a bit of a left turn for his fans.
When he spoke out as a disappointed Cuban-American voter, the internet blinked. His TikTok reel on the topic has over 200,000 views, with thousands arguing, or baffled, in the comments. In a strange twist, Perez Hilton’s identity as a Cuban American finally became part of the conversation, almost two decades after he first hit the scene.
“I knew by his pronunciation of things. I was like 🤔 yeah, you’re definitely some kind of spicy,” di3romantic jokingly commented on TikTok.
Perez: The Most Famous Latino Nobody Knew Was Latino
So, what makes Perez Hilton one of the most influential people in entertainment? Simple. He’s the internet’s designated gossip guy, a one-man show with a mix of snark and sass that’s kept people hooked since 2004. His Latino-ness even contributed to his famous moniker. According to Latino USA, the origin story goes that “when Lavandeira was out clubbing in Miami, he would often see tables reserved for socialite ‘Paris Hilton.’ He quickly caught on that Hilton was not actually going to any of these clubs and that this was a marketing ploy to bring in people hoping to get a glimpse of the heiress. Lavandeira jokingly said to his friends, ‘Oh come on, Paris Hilton isn’t coming to this club. Maybe Perez Hilton.’ And so his alternate identity was born.”
He has always been unapologetically himself — loud, proud, and Cuban-American. And if his recent political commentary surprised his fans, well, it’s just another chapter in the ever-evolving, endlessly entertaining story of Perez Hilton.
