Jon Hamm says insult against Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton 'wasn't personal'

Jon Hamm hasn't apologized for calling Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton idiots, but he did clarify his statement after Kardashian spoke out against the "Mad Men" star.

"It's surprising to me that it has become remotely a story... I don't know Ms. Kardashian, I know her public persona," Hamm told E! News at a Paleyfest event on March 13. "What I said was meant to be more on pervasiveness of something in our culture, not personal, but she took offense to it and that is her right."

The 41-year-old actor, who plays suave ad executive Don Draper on the AMC show "Mad Men," had made his comments to ELLE UK magazine in an April 2012 interview. He had said: "Whether it's ! Paris Hi lton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a [expletive] idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you're rewarded significantly."

Kardashian expressed her opinion shortly after Hamm's interview hit the web. The reality star felt that the actor's comments against her and Hilton were "careless."

"I respect Jon and I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that not everyone takes the same path in life," Kardashian, 31, said on her Twitter page on Monday, March 12. "We're all working hard and we all have to respect one another. Calling someone who runs their own businesses, is a part of a successful TV show, produces, writes, designs, and creates, 'stupid,' is in my opinion careless."

Hilton, 30, has not responded publicly to Hamm's comments. Both she and Kardashian are Los Angeles socialites who rose to fame with leaked sex tapes and later launched their own reality shows and a slew of branded products. Kardashian made headlines all throughout 2011 due to her much-publicized and televised wedding to basketball player Kris Humphries and divorce filing 72 days later.

Both were named one of the top 10 "least trusted" celebrities of 2011. Barbara Walters put Kardashian and her famous family on her list of "Most Fascinating People" of 2011.

Hamm, a 1993 graduate of the! Univers ity of Missouri, earned four Emmy nominations for his role on "Mad Men" and two for a guest part on "30 Rock."

Kardashian, who told attended a Los Angeles-area city college for several years but never graduated, won the 2012 People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Celebreality Star. Both she and Hilton, who never went to college, have built a massive fan following worldwide and their branded products rake in millions of dollars each year.

Kardashian and her family, who appear on the E! series "Keeping up With the Kardashians" were previously called idiots by Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill, who also said their popularity is "super disgusting."

Hamm can be seen in the new film "Friends With Kids," which hit theaters last Friday. The movie also stars Megan Fox and Hamm's real life partner, Jennifer Westfeldt, who wrote and directed the film. "Mad Men" is set to return for a fifth season on the cable channel AMC on March 25.

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