Paris Hilton apologizes for her comments about gay men

Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton is apologizing for comments she made about gay men "being disgusting" during a late night cab ride on September 7 in NYC. The hotel heiress' conversation with a gay male friend was secretly recorded by the cab driver and posted by Radar Online on Thursday.

She later released a statement through GLAAD, an alliance of gay advocates, that was posted on the GLAAD website and linked to from Hilton's Twitter account. "As anyone close to me knows, I always have been and always will be a huge supporter of the gay community," the statement reads. "I am so sorry and so upset that I caused pain to my gay friends, fans and their families with the comments heard this morning. I was having this private conversation with a friend of mine who is gay and our conversation was in no way towards the entire gay community. It is the last thing that I would ever want to do and I cannot put into words how much I wish I could take back every word. HIV/AIDS can hurt anyone, gay and straight, men and women. It's something I take very seriously and should not have been thrown around in conversation. Gay people are the strongest and most inspiring people I know. It is so wrong when people bully or put down others for being gay. No one should have to go through that. Again, I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart and I feel absolutely horrible. I hope that everyone can accept my apology and know that it is not who I am or how I feel in any way. Thank you for taking a minute to read this, I love you."
The remarks Hilton apologized for referenced both AIDS and a social networking app called Grindr that's aimed at gay and bi-sexual men. "Gay guys are the horniest people in the world," Hilton is heard saying. "They're disgusting." She continued, "Dude, most of them probably have AIDS. I would be so scared if I was a gay guy ... you'll like die of AIDS."
Alongside, Hilton's statement GLAAD urged readers to watch a documentary about the history of AIDS activism called "How to Survive a Plague," which opens in select theaters this weekend.