By HENRY SANDERSON
BEIJING (AP) - French fashion house Christian Dior said Thursday it has dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese ads and released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying China's earthquake may have been bad karma for its treatment of Tibet.
The 50-year-old actress said she was "deeply sorry" for causing anguish and anger among Chinese people with her remarks in an interview last week. Stone models for Christian Dior SA, and the company's Shanghai office issued the statement.
Stone's comments caused considerable anger in the Chinese media. The official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary Thursday she was the "public enemy of all mankind."
The public relations manager for Dior in Shanghai who gave only her surname, Guo, said Stone would no longer appear in the company's advertisements in China.
"Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people," Stone said in the statement. "I am willing to take part in the relief work of China's earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people."
Chinese media have erupted in indignation over foreign criticism of the country ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August. During the international leg of the Olympic torch relay, many Chinese reacted strongly to protests over China's rule of Tibet.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday he had taken note of Stone's apology.
"We hope that as an actress she should contribute to our two peoples' mutual trust, understanding and friendship," he said.
Stone's original comments were made last week during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview.
"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"
9 comments:
I wonder if John Hagee and Pat Robertson are pissed she got to China first?
I'm terribly conflicted. On the one hand it was an insanely idiotic thing to say. However, she did deliver the goods in Basic Instinct. You can see the bind I'm in.
So if John Hagee shows you his "stuff", is he off the hook too?
Well gosh Miko, I suppose that - hey wait a second! You tried to trick me into admitting I'm gay and/or supportive of religious whackos. (Believe me, I'd rather be gay.)
Julie and I were just talking yesterday about Ben Stein's movie about creationism, and she said there ought to be some sort of law about celebrities expressing their opinions. And here's Sharon Stone to back that up.
(Ben Stein's movie Expelled is one of those infuriating examples of Jesus freaks pulling the "free thought is being quelled" argument. You'd think after that whole Galileo debacle they'd keep their mouths shut, but no.)
I'm sort of morbidly curious about Expelled but I don't think I have the stomach to sit through it.
Whatever happened to the Bill Maher Religulous movie? Did that come and go already?
Religulous was pushed back to an October 3rd release date. Which means it'll be competing with horror movies for our attention...
I don't mind celebrities expressing opinions. Heck, with the damn instant poll culture we live in today, every douchebag with a pulse gets to voice his/her opinion on matters they're clueless about. For every Sharon Stone there's plenty of actually informed famous folks who speak out and put some of their money and clout to work for good shit. Muhammad Ali saying "No Vietnamese ever called me nigger" is one of the great quotes of all time. I much prefer that to Michael Jordan not speaking out against Falwell because "Well, Republicans buy sneakers too."
That said, Sharon Stone is clearly an idiot, and Ben Stein is a dishonest and sanctimonious sleaze.
Sure, there are plenty of senators who I wish would shut up, too.
I'm just thinking of particularly egregious celebrities. Jennie McCarthy is one, spreading the word about vaccine injury and yelling on Larry King at doctors. Ricki Lake is another one. Never went to college but now is an expert on home birth, and tons of silly women will try it thanks to her movie. And thanks to my weirdly edited radio interview. I gotta stop talking, too apparently, since it really doesn't matter what I actually say.
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