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Paris Hilton is under fire for comments she made about gay men ... claiming, "Gay guys are the horniest people in the world ... they're disgusting. Dude, most of them probably have AIDS."

The comments were made during a Sept. 7 cab ride in NYC -- and Hilton's team claims the cab driver secretly recorded the audio while Paris was having a conversation with a gay friend.

During the conversation, a man can be heard bringing up Grindr -- a popular phone app that gay men sometimes use to find sexual partners.

Hilton responds, "Ewwww ... gay guys are the horniest people in the world. Most of them probably have AIDS ... I would be so scared if I was a gay guy ... you'll like die of AIDS."

Hilton's rep has released a statement ... saying, "Paris Hilton’s comments were to express that it is dangerous for anyone to have unprotected sex that could lead to a life threatening disease."

"The conversation became heated, after a close gay friend told her in a cab ride, a story about a gay man who has AIDS and is knowingly having unprotected sex. He also discussed a website that encourages random sex by gay men with strangers."

"As she was being shown the website her comments were in reference to those people promoting themselves on the site. The cab driver who recorded this, only provided a portion of the conversation."

"It was not her intent to make any derogatory comments about all gays."