Paris Hilton: ‘I Am So Sorry’ For Anti-Gay Rant

Sept. 21 2012, Published 8:00 a.m. ET

Paris Hilton, in a crisis statement issued late Thursday, apologized to the gay community after RadarOnline.com's world exclusive audio of the socialite's crude commentary on a phone application designed for gay hook-ups.

"As anyone close to me knows, I always have been and always will be a huge supporter of the gay community. 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."

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"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.

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"Thank you for taking a minute to read this, I love you."

Following the statement -- which the socialite issued to the organization GLAAD -- the organization added that, "Paris is right that HIV/AIDS can affect anyone. Over thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, better education around HIV/AIDS is still needed by much of the public and the media."

As we exclusively reported, the Stars Are Blind singer said that "gay guys are the horniest people in the world" in response to Grindr, an app that gay men use to locate other gay men for hookups.