Paris Hilton ‘really moved’ by Sarah Silverman’s apology for jail joke

Comedian Sarah Silverman has apologized to influencer Paris Hilton for a joke she made in 2007 right before the latter was scheduled to check in to jail.

After making a crude joke about Hilton’s jail sentence while hosting the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, Silverman said Thursday on her podcast that she regretted her words instantly and did not realize at the time that the hotel heiress was in the audience. Hilton went to jail for violating parole after pleading no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving.

“I said some very hardcore jokes about her,� Silverman said. “The crowd went bananas. And while I was thrilled at the success of my monologue, I remember spotting her in the audience. ... I remember seeing that look on her face, and my heart sank because there was a person under there.�

Silverman also recalled writing a letter soon after the show apologizing to Hilton for the routine. On her own podcast earlier this week, Hilton said she never heard from the comic after the ceremony.

“I’m just real sorry my note didn’t get to her because I really meant it,� Silverman said. “I regretted the jokes, not years later but kind of immediately. ... So here I am, 14 years later, telling you, Paris, that I am really sorry.

“I was then, and I am — much more completely and with far more understanding — now. I can’t imagine what you were going through at that time. ... I’m sorry I hurt you ... I hope that you accept my apology, and I hope that you feel my remorse. I felt it the second I saw your face that night.�

On Thursday, Hilton did accept Silverman’s apology after someone texted her a link to an article about the “Wreck-It Ralph� actress’ remarks. On the most recent episode of her “This Is Paris� podcast, Hilton thanked Silverman, saying she appreciated the gesture and understood where she was coming from.

“She was so genuine, and so sweet, and it really moved me,� Hilton said. “I felt emotional hearing it. And I could tell that she really did mean what she said when she was apologizing.�

Silverman’s latest apology comes days after Hilton opened up about her experience at the 2007 ceremony on her podcast, calling the TV host’s behavior “disgusting and so cruel and mean.� The socialite-entrepreneur also admitted she was already “very nervous� to attend the Hollywood event hours before she went to jail.

“To sit in the audience with her literally just publicly humiliating me ... I was sitting there wanting to die,� Hilton said. “I was trying to hold back my tears so hard. ... I literally wanted to run out of the entire room, but I just was trying to be strong and just sit there.

“The whole audience is laughing and ... [she] would not stop. It was so painful — especially [with] what I was going through in my life. To then have someone being so mean about it was really hard.�

Last month, Silverman came under fire for jokes she made about pop icon Britney Spears the same year at the MTV Video Music Awards. During the show, Silverman mocked Spears for her “slutty clothes� and called her children “the most adorable mistakes you’ll ever see.�

Silverman later said she wished she could “delete� the moment, after fans of Spears criticized her on Twitter in the wake of FX’s buzzy documentary about the “Toxic� artist.

“I was known then 4 roasts,� Silverman wrote. “MTV asked me to mini-roast Britney after her big performance. While she was performing I was having diarrhea & going over my jokes. Had no idea she didn’t kill. Unfortunate. Art changes over yrs as we know more & the world changes.�