TORONTO – Some people thrive in victimhood, but what happens when someone who is supposed to maintain at least a facade of professional objectivity instead throws off all pretense and goes on a tear by aggressively inflicting their very insecurities, the worst of their demons, on their subjects and the readership at large?

Case in point, Perez Hilton

Hilton used to blog the celebrity news – albeit, with bucket loads of attitude – but lately he has become the news, and his escalating histrionics strongly indicate he likes the limelight as much as, if not more than, the blogging rights, especially if it gets him roughed up.

First, of course, Hilton instigated the fiasco at the Miss USA Pageant when he asked Carrie Prejean (photo, below) the now-infamous question about same-sex marriage. When he didn’t like her response, he tore into her like a rabid Chihuahua on a stuffed toy, and the rest is history. The incident had serious legs and propelled Prejean from an unknown hottie into an nationally-known right-wing hottie. It did nothing substantial for the debate over same-sex marriage, however, but get The Donald to weigh in on a subject he should never discuss.

Monday morning, in Toronto, after getting into a verbal fight in a nightclub with members of the Black Eyed Peas, Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, was punched outside the club by the band’s tour manager. Charges have been filed and the story is now making the rounds, with legs of its own.

Hilton’s aggrieved countenance in the photo, above, his reddened nose, the thin cut under his bloodshot eye all point to an altercation that left him the worse for wear, but there also is something utterly staged and unconvincing about the image. Poseur comes to mind, not victim, despite the obvious hint at universal victimhood in the pose itself.

Hilton told the Associated Press that he called band member will.i.am a faggot after the musician asked him to stop blogging about him on his 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.'”

Monday, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) scolded Hilton for calling will.i.am the F-word, and asked him to apologize for promoting the anti-gay slur. Hilton will have none of it, and wants GLAAD, which he used to work for, to apologize to him.

“I am saddened GLAAD chose to victimize me further by criticizing me for how I non-violently dealt with a very scary situation that, unfortunately, turned violent,” Hilton told TMZ. “While I doubt I will get an apology from GLAAD, nor do I expect one, I would just hope people know how difficult it is to intellectualize a situation and think rationally when a thug disguised as a musician is screaming at your face and intimidating you. I am just very fortunate and grateful that nothing more serious happened to me.”

Hilton also says he is planning to sue the tour manager, Polo Marino. Now we need to hear from Prejean and Trump for the story to come full circle. But not before John Mayer adds his 2.  Blurred video of the confrontation can be found here.

Does any of this matter in the least? Maybe, it just does.