Early gossip bloggers openly embraced selling out, rejecting nineties techno-utopianism.

Evidence

Similarly, Perez Hilton—the flamboyant alter ego of Cuban American Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.—built his blog PageSixSixSix on speculative celebrity gossip, unverified claims about drug use, and crude paparazzi photos. His disclaimers were as shameless as his content: “Postings may contain erroneous or inaccurate information. The owner of this site does not insure [sic] the accurateness [sic] of any content presented on perezhilton.com.” Operating out of an LA Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Lavandeira epitomized the new breed of internet entrepreneur, entirely disconnected from techno-utopianism or the DIY ethos of the nineties. He didn’t hide his motivations: “I want to sell out as fast and as hard as I can.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 173

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘I want to sell out as fast and as hard as I can’ quote will anchor Marx’s later ‘death of the sellout’ argument if this chapter develops it toward Flavor Flav / Total Request Live people known for selling out.