Perez Hilton reiterates claim about Sultan of Brunei's son Prince Azim being gay despite facing backlash
Perez Hilton was slammed for outing the Sultan of Brunei's son Prince Azim as a gay person in the wake of the country introducing a severe form of Sharia law under which homosexuality and adultery would be punishable by death. Hilton was slammed across social media and among LGBTQ community for endangering the life of Prince Azim, who is fourth in line to Brunei's throne.
Undeterred by the backlash, Hilton reiterated the claims in a YouTube video he shared on Monday. In the video, he said Azim is a homosexual even though he was slammed for his initial claims which he made earlier in April.
In the video, Hilton can be heard saying, "First and foremost, the Prince of Brunei who is the fourth in line to the throne will not be murdered. He will not be stoned to death."
"I know the new law, do you? Before attacking me, read what the new law says. The new law says that it is not illegal to be gay in Brunei, it is illegal to have gay sex and the burden of proof is heavy meaning, in order for you to be stoned to death, you need to be convicted. To be convicted, there have to be four witnesses that saw this gay act. It is more of a symbolic gesture," he continued.
Many social media users were absolutely outraged at Hilton's comments, with one writing, "Why would you do that knowing what is he doing? You just caused death because you want to be relevant. Shut up and think first." While another user shared, "You just don’t get it. Family honor is a thing. He may die for dishonoring the family. Not for being gay. You talk the law like they care about the law and will interpret it as you would. Ask kashogghi about the law." (sic) "Kashoggi" referred to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist who was allegedly murdered by the Saudi regime.
A third user added, "That's your problem. You don't think about the repercussions of your actions. Nothing will happen now. But now they'll be watching him closely and the minute they catch him slipping its stones for him. You should know better. People get killed daily even where it's legal."
In response to all the backlash Hilton received, he took to Twitter to share, "The law in Brunei is not that it’s illegal to be gay. It’s illegal to have gay sex. There’s a huge difference. You won’t be stoned just for being queer. And to be stoned there needs to be proof that gay sex happened. There must be witnesses. So, he won’t die. No one will."
He also shared that he was not sorry for his comments.