Leave it to a New York cabby to turn ditz duchess Paris Hilton into a sympathetic character.
Hilton was secretly recorded by a cabby badmouthing gay men while she was being ferried to a late-night event for New York’s Fashion Week this month.
The hack then sold his audiotape to a gossip site that posted a snippet of the conversation online. No surprise, it’s ugly stuff.
“Gay guys are the horniest people in the world,” says the socialite — whose own career, such as it is, revolves around a 2003 sex tape.
“They’re disgusting,” she adds. “Most of them probably have AIDS.”
It’s no revelation that Hilton has a crude way and that her claims are false.
But that really doesn’t matter here — Hilton should never have been recorded in the first place, and as hard as it is to imagine, she was made a victim by her driver.
We understand that nothing illegal happened.
But New Yorkers should have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they step into a cab — that is, no one should have to worry about having private moments taped (let alone sold to some scummy Web site).
That’s as true for the average citizen as it is for the thoughtless millionaire.
“I think recording and posting private conversations are a violation of what people are expecting,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, an openly gay councilman from Queens.
He’s right, of course, but the trouble is that, again, the driver didn’t violate any city laws or regulations when he made his tape.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but it really does come down to a matter of common decency, even when it involves a person who has made a perfect mockery of the notion.
Sadly, it’s something New Yorkers must keep in mind. The city that never sleeps always has its eyes and ears wide open.