Travis Barker did NOT hurl a homophobic slur when he was getting pranked on Ashton Kutcher‘s old MTV show … so says the actor from a resurfaced clip that’s stirring up controversy.

Here’s the deal … Kourtney Kardashian‘s husband is getting slammed online by folks who claim he used the f-word in an old clip from “Punk’d.”

In the resurfaced clip, Travis is having dinner with Shanna Moakler when an actor posing as a waiter comes to the table and starts flirting with her, pretending they used to date.

Travis gets pissed and tells the server, “Yeah, she usually dates (bleep)” … and it sets off a heated confrontation, with the waiter saying he didn’t appreciate the term.

There’s online speculation the MTV show bleeped out a slur … but the actor playing the waiter in the episode, Ahmed Ahmed, tells us that’s not the case. Instead, he says Travis exclaimed, “f***ing a**holes.”

Ahmed says the Blink-182 drummer was totally cool once Ashton came out and let him know he was being pranked.

For those who might not buy Ahmed’s story … he doubts Travis would have signed the release forms allowing the clip to air on TV if he had actually said what people are accusing him of saying.

Ahmed says his friends encouraged him to speak out on Travis’ behalf … and he’s got a message for the Internet trolls coming after Kourtney’s man.