Comedian TINA FEY regrets slamming PARIS HILTON as "a piece of s**t" during a radio interview, but remains concerned by the influence the socialite has over a generation of teenage girls.

The 37-year-old was a guest on Howard Stern's U.S. radio show in late 2006 when she took aim at Hilton, who had just hosted an episode of Fey's former show Saturday Night Live.

Fey now admits her comments went too far - but she's still appalled the hotel heiress is famous for behaviour such as emerging from a car wearing no underwear, starring in a leaked sex tape and a recent stint in jail for a probation violation.

Fey says, "I regret sinking to that level of discourse. But Paris is a terrible role model and a terrible young woman. She needs to be ignored.

"I work with people who have 12, 13, 14-year-old girls, who are fascinated by her. They look up to her, and that's not great. You can buy videotapes in which you can see her bejanis (vagina)!

"There's a whole generation of girls in Hollywood who think that they can say stuff in the press and make it true. It's not just Paris, a whole bunch of them do."