Perez Hilton lawyer threatens Will.I.Am

By Matthew Belloni

Blogger Perez Hilton and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am are already embroiled in a war of words over a fracas following Canada's MuchMusic Video Awards last night. Now the lawyers are getting involved.

Bryan Freedman, whose aggressive representation of Hilton (aka Mario Lavandeira) has resulted in a few recent court victories against paparazzi agencies and others, is threatening Will.I.Am with legal action if he is found to have assaulted the blogger or encouraged manager Polo Molino to do so.  

"Perez will take legal action against anyone who chooses to resort to physical violence as a means to respond to criticism they do not like," Freedman writes us in an email.  "It is my understanding that criminal assault charges have been filed against the band’s manager, Polo Molino, and we are conducting a legal investigation as to whether Will.I.Am encouraged and/or instructed Molino to engage in this physical assault."

Hilton took to Twitter and an expletive-laden video posted on his website today to lash out at Will.I.Am and posse for allegedly tracking down the blogger at an MMVA afterparty. Hilton was allegedly punched in the eye. Will.I.Am claimed in his own video that it was a fan that struck Hilton. But Freedman sounds skeptical. 

"Rest assured that anyone who physically assaults Perez Hilton or encourages others to do so because they cannot handle a little criticism will be sued as quickly as I can type," he writes. "His first amendment rights will not be infringed upon through fear, intimidation or violence."