Did John McCain have a sex scandal? Is Perez Hilton going to have a deal with Warner Brothers? Both stories come from the New York Times with uncorroborated sources, the latter today in which the facts of Hilton's story were "confirmed by several other people associated with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because no deal has been made."

Whether or not it is true or will go through, it is interesting nonetheless. Bloggers can influence the masses as Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, did last September:

In September the unsigned singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson found he had received a boost after Mr. Lavandeira posted a link to his music and lavished praise on it. Mr. Hutchinson’s album cracked the Top 10 on iTunes, an impressive feat for an artist with no label backing. (Mr. Hutchinson had previously been signed to Maverick, a label affiliated with Warner Brothers.) [New York Times]

If the uber-celeb blogger ends up with Warner, that he will still remain objective on his personal site: "They can’t tell me what to do. If I hate one of their artists, chances are I won’t mention them.... unless they do something stupid”

Photo of Perez Hilton at Twiistup 3 by mikemacadaan via Flickr