Paris Hilton Disses Dave

Thu., Nov. 20, 2003 4:15 PM PST by Lia Haberman

The cow's out of the barn, but Paris Hilton's trying to shut the gate anyway.

The high-profile hotel heiress has nixed a date on David Letterman's Late Show to promote her upcoming Fox reality series that plops the party girl and a pal on a rural farm in Arkansas.

In fact, Hilton's canceled all press appearances in connection with The Simple Life, confirmed her publicist. Hilton hopes to take it down a notch after recently becoming the subject of intense media focus over her amateur skin flick with onetime bed buddy Rick Salomon.

With excerpts of the steamy tape bouncing all over the Internet, the frequent tabletop dancer professed herself to be "embarrassed and humiliated" earlier this week. (Though one might wonder, "Why tone it down now Paris?")

Regardless, Hilton's new attitude means bad news for Letterman, who was scheduled to interview the socialite on November 26, a booking that was made weeks ago according to a spokesperson for the show.

Letterman wasted no time in poking fun at Paris' bailing. "All I want to say to Paris is you're being led down the wrong path," Letterman quipped during Thursday's Late Show. "You come on this show, by god, we'll make you a hero.

"We'll talk about anything you want to talk about. If you have pets, we'll talk about your pets. If you want to talk about the sexual videotape, fine; if you don't, that's fine with me too. We all know it's not your fault. It's your idiot boyfriend's fault, that's the problem. We'll set the record straight. It'll be a love fest."

Hilton's media blackout is also somewhat of a PR blow for Fox, which plans to go ahead with a two-part premiere of the Green Acres-style series on December 2 and 3 despite the scandal.

Luckily for Fox, the celebutante had logged several interviews this summer before clips of her sex-capades went public, because not only is the network striking out with Hilton, her Simple Life costar, Nicole Richie, is also eschewing interviews as she completes court-ordered rehab.

Richie, daughter of '80s great Lionel, was busted on a felony heroin-possession charge and a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license after cops pulled over her Mercedes-Benz on the Pacific Coast Highway last February.

On the bright side for Fox, you can't buy publicity like this.