Perez Hilton might be in trouble for posting explicit shot of Miley Cyrus
Perez Hilton might have done a big NO-NO . People .com tell us that Blogger Perez Hilton is facing widespread outrage, and possibly legal trouble, for posting an apparently explicit paparazzi shot of Miley Cyrus taken when the pop star was climbing out of a car.
Hilton, 32, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira Jr., posted the offending photo on Monday. He has since removed it. But since it exposed Cyrus, 17 – a minor – he could potentially face child-pornography charges.
Reaction to his posting of the image – which PEOPLE will not reproduce, even in a censored form – has been swift and damning, with Tuesday’s morning talk shows full of anger and recrimination at Hilton. What remains to be seen is whether it was not just a poor decision but a criminal one.
Jeffrey Douglas, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney specializing in child pornography cases, told Salon.com that it was “suicidal” for Hilton to distribute the image. “We’re not talking about a misdemeanor,” he said. “You don’t have to know what the definition of the law is; all you have to do is knowingly distribute the photograph.”
Even if, as some have suggested, the image has been Photoshopped, that would not absolve Hilton. “That is still a crime, and it is punishable just the same,” says Douglas, adding that even clearly manipulated images – a child’s head Photoshopped onto an adult’s body, for example – is punishable under the law. It would have never been a problem if she was dressed in lab coats or something but explicit photos of a minor is a big no no.
Neither Hilton nor Cyrus has commented on the photo since Hilton’s original post.
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