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Gossip guru to Chen: come to the US, perv

Hollywood celebrity gossip guru Perez Hilton has some simple advice for Edison Chen Koon-hei.

'Move to America.'

Such has been the international interest in the Chen sex-photos scandal last week that the affair has made it on to Hilton's wildly popular blog - perezhilton.com - an 'honour'' usually only afforded to controversies involving the very cream of the Hollywood crop.

The drama surrounding the photographs shows no sign of abating, with Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi on Friday attacking Chen as a liar and a hypocrite on a television entertainment programme.

Hilton - who claims his website in the past has recorded as many as 8.8 million hits in one 24-hour period - has built a career out of dishing the dirt on the rich and famous. And he says Chen's story is irresistible.

Last week, it has shared space on Hilton's site with stories on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and, of course, Britney Spears.

'We feel sorry for the poor perv!' posted Hilton, in his summary of Chen's appearance in front of a Hong Kong magistrate in a Vancouver court.

Chen was testifying ahead of the trial of computer technician Sze Ho-chun, who has been accused of leaking nude photos of the actor with eight actresses and singers.

When contacted in Los Angeles by the Sunday Morning Post, Hilton - who was born Mario Armando Lavandeira - said he had been following the case since it first broke last year. 'There's been a few [similar cases]. But in this country sex tapes help your career and don't harm it.

'My advice to him would be: move to America.'

The thinking is that the case might help Chen's Hollywood dreams.

The actor walked away from the entertainment industry after the scandal broke in February last year, but showed signs that he was ready to make a return with an appearance in Singapore on Friday - at the launch of the Thickburger, a new brand of hamburger.

'At the moment he doesn't have any presence in America whatsoever,' said Hilton, who thinks that all might be about to change. 'I decided to write about him since I happen to have an international audience, even in Asia. Plus, I personally think it's an interesting story.'

Anthony Fung Ying-him, journalism professor at Chinese University, said it might be harder for Chen to be accepted back into Hong Kong than it would be if he worked in the United States had the scandal had broken there and he was now wishing to return there.

'Studies of Chinese populations have shown that Hongkongers, in terms of sex, are more conservative,' Professor Fung said. 'And for most types of Hong Kong people, the kinds of sex practices shown in the photos are taboo.'

He also believes the media coverage of the story here is less forgiving than it might be elsewhere.

'Hong Kong journalists like to play with the issue of morality,' he said. 'And what they preach in the media is very different from what they practise. It is a different logic with this scandal, they are bringing up issues of morality but are not really being moral - they are just using it, and publishing more photos, to increase revenue.'

Chen's story attracted much coverage last week on the internet, but it hasn't all been about the sex.

On CultofMac.com, netizens were incredulous that Chen had not learned how to properly delete the images from his laptop.

Chen has been reported as saying: 'I thought that when you deleted a file and put it in the trash bin, it was deleted.'

'Sucks to be you,' posted Badedukation, and similar sentiments were expressed by Hilton.

'The trash doesn't work to its full effect if you don't empty it, buddy!' he posted.

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