Norm! column

May 1, 2008

BLOGGER FEUD

Local writer/podcaster Steve Friess is accusing celebrity blogger Perez Hilton of plagiarism involving Tina Turner's tour announcement last Saturday.

Friess attended Oprah Winfrey's taping at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and posted this snippet on VegasHappensHere.com: "Tina's going on tour having been prodded, she said, by Sophia Loren to stop lolling about her Swiss home and go back to work."

A short time later, a post on PerezHilton.com read as follows: "The 68-year-old legend says that Sophia Loren told her to stop 'lolling about her Swiss home and get back to work.' "

When Friess called that plagiarism, Perez Hilton countered with an e-mail saying, "A reader sent me that item as their own."

He admonished Friess for bringing the plagiarism issue to the attention of the Los Angeles Times, calling it "desperate and pathetic."

Friess responded that "it is neither pathetic nor desperate to seek proper credit for one's work."

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