To many, a person’s reputation is everything. People have gossiped since the beginning of time. Most claim to hate gossiping, yet, according to Arina’s Self Help Blog, “66% of all human communication is gossip.” And with the rapid climb of gossip blogs, reputations are being tarnished or even completely ruined. People claim to hate it but love doing it. The following is a list of some of the worst gossip blogs on the internet, whether the stories are true or not, people love to read them and pass the word along to others.

Coming in first place, and no surprise, is the website of Perez Hilton:

PerezHilton.com has commonly been referred to as “Hollywood’s most hated website. The site was created in 2009 by author Mario Lavandeira. According to ‘The Guardian: World’s Most Powerful Blogs,’ “Mario is famous for scrawling rude things (typically doodles about drug use) over pap photos and outing closeted stars. On the day of Lindsay Lohan’s arrest for drink-driving, he posted 60 updates.” The worst part? “Eight million readers logged on to get the nitty gritty details of Lohan”-at a time when she was at her worst. 

Hilton lives for gossip and rarely, if ever, has anything positive to say about anyone in the Hollywood spotlight. Hilton has also had a reality show on VH1. Celebrities are not happy about the things he has to say and are retaliating. Also, according the ‘The Guardian,’ “Fergie from the ‘Black Eyed Peas’ alluded to him in a song, and Avril Lavigne phoned, asking him to stop writing about her after he repeatedly blogged about her lack of talent and her freakishly long arm.”

Coming in second place on our Worst Gossip Blog list is TMZ:

TMZ was launched in 2005 by AOL and has kept going with the most up to date gossip news with the help of approximately 20 writers. TMZ prides itself on being a relentless celebrity gossip site-whether the stories written are fact or fiction. Pulling in an estimated 1.6 million readers a month, ‘The Guardian’ deems “celeb activity as mundane as stars walking to their cars worthy of a video post.” In fact, “it was the first to break Alec Baldwin’s now infamous ‘rude little pig’ voicemail last April, for instance. TMZ prides itself on being close to the action, so close, in fact, a TMZ photographer had his foot run over by Britney Spears mid-meltdown. They auctioned the tyre-tracked sock on eBay in aid of US charity, the Children’s Defense Fund last autumn.” Now, here is a celebrity that was having a very hard time in her life and they are auctioning off a sock on eBay that Spears touched? It’s sad.

In third place on our Worst Gossip List we have Valleywag:

Valleywag is a Media blog site that revolves around the gossip of Silicon Valley personalities. The site was created in February of 2006 by Editor Nick Douglas, and is now run by Ryan Tate. According to the site, “it was the first to break some stories, such as the leaking of a Gene Simmons sex tape.” Still, this site gets worse. This site also broadcasts rumors and untrue gossip about people that are not even in the public eye. For example, according to the New York Times, “a college intern who falsely called in sick to work and had it publicized across the Internet by Valleywag.”

These sites are making serious money by destroying reputations. If it weren’t for the public’s attraction to gossip, these sites wouldn’t even be functioning. So what is it about gossip that is so appealing? According to Arina’s Self Help Blog, the number one reason people gossip is it acts as a bonding mechanism, “It is really simple. When two people discuss a third person, it makes them feel closer. Almost like they have committed a little crime together and now they have a secret of their own that they do not want anyone else to discover. Gossiping makes us feel ‘part of a closed club,’ by creating a strange feeling of mutual trust and bonding.” However, something for all of us to consider is this: “Do you really want to bond THAT way? Because a person who is gossiping WITH you, will most likely gossip ABOUT you the second you leave.”

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About the author

Elizabeth Lowry
Elizabeth graduated from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University with her specialization in Broadcast News as well as a minor in business and psychology. She enjoys writing, reading and researching about humanitarian affairs, health & fitness, fashion and sports. In her free time she enjoys working out, traveling and exploring different cultures, trying new things and spending time with her Chocolate Lab.