Afternoon Greg: What the heck am I doing at a mall food court? Why is Perez Hilton calling people names?

Usually mall food courts give ne seizures but the Westwide Pavilion is rather nice this time of day – not too crowded – and free wifi! So what am I doing here you wonder? Well, no, I didn’t have  a sudden urge to have a shopping spree at Banana Republic or to chow down on a Wetzel’s Pretzel.

I’m here to see a movie called Humpday at the Landmark theaters, one of the venues of the LA Independent Film Festival. I’m credentialed for the 10-daty event that began last Thursday but am now just getting into the swing of it. Met some filmmakers for an interview in the VIP lounge in Westwood and fter this flick, I head over to the Geffen Theater for a panel on gay cinema.

I only have a few minutes to post right now so thought I’d post an item about Perez Hilton who in recent weeks seems to BE the news more than reporting the news.

Last night in Toronto, the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas allegedly punched Perez during an altercation outside of a nightclub and has been charged with assault.

Perez said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band’s tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show.

Perez Twittered about the incident at 4 a.m.: “I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.”

He later said in an interview with The Associated Press that he called will.i.am a “faggot,” a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site.

“He was like ‘You need to respect me.’ He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me,” Hilton said. “I was like ‘I don’t need to respect you. I don’t respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said ‘You know what, I don’t respect you and you’re gay and stop being such a faggot.'”

Will.i.am said in a video posting on dipdive.com that he came to Hilton with respect and was called a “faggot.” Perez was at the club with Lady Gaga and said he then left the club and was punched from behind.

Good grief. Everyone needs to calm down and I would tbink that Perez, an openly gay man, should not be calling anyone a “faggot” ever.