On Friday, controversial celebrity blogger Perez Hilton announced that he has inked a deal to launch his own record label in cooperation with Warner Brothers Records.

Perez has landed an imprint within the label and he hopes to reveal the identity of his first artist by the end of the month, he said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

The sharp-tongued pop culture pundit has long been credited with helping promote new musical acts, including dance singing sensation Lady Gaga.

“I have an ear, which is really important in the music world..To be able to hear a hit and to be able to know who has a good song or not. I’m more than just an A&R person. I’m also a marketing person. I’m also a manager.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – the nation’s leading gay rights group – is taking celebrity blogger Perez Hilton to task for using antigay slurs against Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am following an altercation between the two at Sunday night’s MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.

“I don’t need to respect you, and you’re a fag. You’re gay, and stop being such a faggot,” the openly gay spat in a videoblog response to reports of a fight with will.i.am after last night’s show.

Regardless of who hit who, GLAAD is none to pleased with Perez’s flamboyant use of the word “faggot.”

“These are vulgar antigay slurs that feed a climate of hatred and intolerance toward our community,” Rashad Robinson, senior director of Media Programs at GLAAD, said in a statement to E! late Monday. “For someone in our own community to use it to attack another person by saying that it is ‘The worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear,’ is incredibly dangerous.”

“It legitimizes use of a slur that is often linked to violence against our community. And it sends a message that it is OK to attempt to dehumanize people by exploiting antigay attitudes,” Robinson continued.

GLAAD is calling upon Perez to apologize for using the slur.

“We have reached out to Hilton and asked him to apologize for promoting this antigay slur, and we would ask media outlets to avoid repetition of the slur in their coverage of this story. While not all the facts in this case are known, the violence that appears to have been committed against Perez Hilton is unacceptable and ought to be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” the statement continued.

Perez claims he was beaten to a pulp by will.i.am and one of the Peas’ managers, Polo Molina, 36. Molina has been charged with one count of assault and ordered to appear in court August 5.

For his part, Will has denied any wrongdoing.

“This dude twists it and says that I assaulted him,” will.i.am said of Perez in a video rebuttal of his own early Monday. “When I was the one that came to him with respect and he was the one who called me a [faggot] outside the club.”

The man known by many of his fans as the “Gossip Gangsta” made a stop at the Mall of America Saturday. Perez Hilton was there to promote his new book “Red Carpet Suicide: A Survival Guide On Keeping Up With The Hiltons.”

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., is the founder of perezhilton.com, a website that posts the latest celebrity gossip and pictures of stars with some cartoon-looking “alterations” done by Hilton.

“I love writing about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Zac Efron,” said Hilton.

Hilton claims to work 16 to 17 hours a day, calling, texting, writing and reading up on celebrities. It has paid off. Since he launched his website five years ago it has become a hit, which in turn inspired him to write a book.

On Saturday, hundreds of Hilton’s fans showed up at the Mall of America to buy his new book and to meet the man dishing the stars.

“He just makes it really entertaining and his drawings are hilarious. He’s just really cool,” said fan Lindsay Brunelli.

“I like it because he draws funny cartoons on everyone. I like that he puts up really bad pictures of people instead of just the nice ones,” said fan Claire Daley.

Hilton spent the afternoon signing autographs. He credits the very celebrities he rips on for his success, and he is hoping his Minnesota fans never get sick of it.

“That’s why I wrote the book, because it demystifies celebrity. It breaks down how people get famous and how people stay famous. And how you too could be famous,” said Hilton.

Hilton said that he is accurate more than 90 percent of the time, but he said his biggest blunder was when he wrongfully reported that Fidel Castro had died.