Blogger Perez Hilton has gruesome self-harm episode on TikTok live stream
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Transcript
19 segmentsGone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South, but for our new season, we're widening the lens. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. I'm Megan Lynch, and you are back with Total Information AM on this Thursday morning here on KMOX. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton remains hospitalized after engaging in self-harm on a TikTok live stream. Followers tried to intervene calling law enforcement. Even though it was flagged by TikTok, the company says moderator error allowed the stream to continue for a good 15 minutes. I want to bring in a psychologist this morning to kind of help us understand all of this and cope with it maybe. Dr. Roger Rhodes joins me now. Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Rhodes. Oh, thank you for having me. My first question for you really is, just as you watch this unfold, there's so many things that people are trying to grasp with this incident. What are your first thoughts about what has happened with the celebrity blogger? Well, I think when people... Make drastic moves in their life and think that is not going to affect them mentally, they've missed the beat there. It is a real adjustment for humans to move from one area to another area, one lifestyle to another lifestyle, and I think that is going to be very tough on them mentally. And so you think that's possibly what's happened to this blogger, Perez Hilton? Without a doubt. Without a doubt, I think he was not equipped. to make the move, change his lifestyle, way he operated. You know, he at one time lived in L.A. and then he moved to Miami. Wow. I mean, that's almost moving countries there. And it was not going to affect him. I think he really missed the beat. So what are your concerns for him and for any of his followers who witnessed what happened? Well, I hope it's at the heart a cautionary tale that they take this and say, wait a minute, what really happened here? And, you know, that is there anything in my life that I might be putting too much? pressure on me unknowingly where something like this or something even in a minor way might happen to me and I might need to make that adjustment beforehand. Are you concerned about someone who witnessed this trying to do the same thing, you know, as a form of release?
Well, yes, but it's not the same, okay? I mean, copying somebody versus being a pressure on you is different. And so that's kind of what you're looking at there, is that, you know, what happened to him was one thing, people washing him in and then saying, wait a minute, I'm going to... Copy that is different. It's a whole different psychological element to that. Followers, yeah. Could it happen? Yes. Would it be exact? No. Followers asked him to stop, which is incredible, even going so far, some of them as calling authorities to try to get him some help. What does that tell you about that community, as it were? Well, I mean, definitely they were invested. They were concerned. And they realized he was not in his right mind. And so that was just a cry for help because they realized, wait a bit, this is more than we can handle, you know, us pleading. They were just trying to get to him. You know, that was really what was going on. They were just trying to get to him. Dr. Rhodes, if someone witnessed this, maybe even just scrolling by on social media, you know, uninvited, as it wore, into their feeds. How do they come to grips with what they might have witnessed? Well, I hope it's a cautionary tale. I hope it's a wait a minute. Wait a minute. What is going on here? This is not a rational move. This is not a rational moment. What happened to this guy? And then question within themselves, am I putting myself in a pressure cooker where bad things can happen? You know, in this situation, TikTok says a moderator that there was an error in their system. It delayed removal of this live stream. It was up for a good 15 minutes. What responsibility to these platforms have in this? Well... You know, if nothing happens, they'll say, oh, big deal. But if something, you know, poorly happens, then there's going to be consequences to that. You know, oops doesn't cover it unless nothing happens. If something happens, then somebody's going to pay the price. for not doing whatever they needed to do to make sure it did go out to the public. But see, once it went out to the public, there's an accountability element. That comes with broadcasting. You know, when you're out there, you have a responsibility to the audience. And so you need to take that responsibility seriously. And if you don't, then that's where you have the authorities come in. Make you take responsibility. Dr. Rhodes, any final thoughts on this? Yes, my final thought is a cautionary tale for all of us. We're living in a mobile society and people moving and moving careers and relationships and locations and it takes its toll.
That's what I hope people are hearing today. This is a great example of too much for the person. Take into account if you're going to move somewhere, if you're going to change an environment, if you're going to change a job or a social situation, to give yourself some support and flexibility in that move. Dr. Rhodes, thanks for your time this morning. Oh, thank you for having me. That is psychologist Dr. Roger Rhodes joining us this morning here on KMOX. Sometimes it feels like the news is full of things that have never happened before. And that is not exactly true. In fact, it may have happened this very week hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'm Sally Helm, host of the podcast History This Week from the History Channel. Trade embargoes, Thomas Jefferson tried them. Rent too high? We've been arguing about that for a while. Each episode is proof. The past isn't that far away. Listen to History This Week, available now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.