Dior issues Sharon Stone apology for 'karma' remark over China's earthquake

Dior issues Sharon Stone apology for 'karma' remark over China's earthquake

By HENRY SANDERSON,Associated Press Writer AP - 51 minutes agoBEIJING

- French fashion house Christian Dior said Thursday it has dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese advertisements and released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying the earthquake that struck China may have been the result of bad "karma" over its treatment of Tibet.

Dior issues Sharon Stone apology for 'karma' remark over China's earthquake

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.

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."

Stone said she had worked in international charities for the past 20 years and wants to help Chinese people. During her visit to China last year for the Shanghai Movie Festival she said she felt "deeply the Chinese people's wisdom and hospitality."

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.

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?"

During the brief interview, Stone also said she cried when she received a letter from the Tibetan Foundation asking her to help the quake victims.

"They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry. It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you," she said.



[edit on 29-5-2008 by haidian]

i find it quite annoying that people need to apologies just because someone else doesn't agree with what they say... if you don't like it just ignore it because the minute you start making a fuss over it more and more people become aware of what has been said... and the issue gets blown out of proportion and everyone has a good old cry over something that is trivial.

reply to post by purplemonkey


the whole world demands her apology ,not only chinese people,go and check all the related comments and you will find out,she cant get away with it.now she learned the hard way a lesson.

i don't care who demanded the apology... she is entitled to her opinion and if you or who ever doesn't like it then don't listen!

beside millions of average people's demand around the world,her big sponsors also pressed her to apologize.
-------------------------------------------------

LVMH Urges Sharon Stone to Clarify China Quake Remark (Update1)

By Fergus Maguire

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world's largest luxury-goods maker, urged its model Sharon Stone to clarify remarks suggesting a May 12 earthquake may have been ``karma'' for China's policies on Tibet.

``If there is a possibility of putting things in the right perspective, coming from the heart, I think that is the best thing to do,'' Group Managing Director Antonio Belloni said at a luxury-goods conference in Tokyo today. The comments from Stone, who appears in advertisements for LVMH's Christian Dior cosmetics and perfumes, were ``unfortunate,'' he added.

``If she doesn't agree, I think we have to acknowledge she doesn't agree and detach us from her,'' Belloni said.
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Dior said in a statement issued by its Chinese head office that company officials ``absolutely disagree'' with Stone's comments and are ``deeply sorry'' about them, the Financial Times reported.

reply to post by purplemonkey


but she cant get away with it,i know it,you know it,and most of all,she knows it too.

I find it repulsive that when a person makes a statement they do not stand by it.

I'll just be damned if I will apologize when I feel my words are true.

Of course, the greed for the almighty dollar is the root of the apology.

reply to post by dizziedame


you made a mistake ,you apologize and try to fix the damage,that's the right thing to do,the whole humanity know who is right on this issue.guess now she should've realized it.

yes your right she was 'pressed' to make the apology...

i just thinks its sad that people have to demand someone to change their view... their identity.. because you don't agree with what they believe....

you have to understand that people are different... idk maybe you just spend all day in front of a computer and don't know what social interaction is.

her stupidity was also shown by talking about the quake was a bad karma because of the bad treatment to tibetan people by chinese government,not knowning this quake hit a tibetan autonomous county,and thousands of tibetan people dead and suffering together with han people,what did those poor tibetan farmers do to get this karma?

[edit on 29-5-2008 by haidian]

agree with both purplemonkey (wow, first time?) and dizziedame,

if the apology was done by herself or through her agent, then I would see it differently, but this is more Christian Dior's PR to do damage control, so they can keep on selling to the Chinese market.

if you don't feel like apologizing, just don't do it

if you do feel like apologizing, do it with sincerity

@ haidian

i thought the point of this was to discuss that she apologized...

anyway i am not saying i agree with what she said but the way the Chinese went about complaining about the comments was stupid. but don't worry i am not going to ask for an apology from them...

[edit on 29-5-2008 by purplemonkey]

can we stick it to the other thread? www.abovetopsecret.com...

Monkey,
no, not stupid how the Chinese people reacted, the world community is also reacting in the same way, just look around the different forums.
interesting isn't it that Netizens seem to have more and more power towards this capitalistic world

reply to post by purplemonkey


if this big a disarster happens anywhere in this world,say,your country.you have a world celebrity comment like that,i guarrantee you will have the same amount of complaints as well.

no... i would ignore them...

because an apology isn't going to change anything especially (as IchiNiSan said) if it isn't sincere

[edit on 29-5-2008 by purplemonkey]

if the same disaster hits your country,and a cold blooded celebrity makes this remark.you said you would ignore it,but most your countrymen wont.you are just an individual.you can call them stupid.but if you are the only person you think not stupid,then something wrong there in your mind.

this argument is pointless because neither side can prove anything...
it is just a hypothetical situation...

but again i am just speaking from my own point of view... if something did happen in Australia and a celebrity made an undesirable comment, and people demanded an apology i wouldn't support that and i would be writing the same thing that i have written in this thread opposing the apology.

but thats just me and if you disagree or agree thats fine i am happy either way

[edit on 29-5-2008 by purplemonkey]

giddy,mate,i took back my words,i dont want to jinx australia,ha,i have many australian friends in beijing,actually i m now sending this message using my australian friend,sofia's computer.we are coworkers and enjoy very good relationship.not just her,many austrialian friends,quinn,zac...,oh,i love them,i dont want anything bad happen to austrilia.

hahah thats ok mate...

don't take back your comments open dialog is good to understand different peoples perspectives...

reply to post by purplemonkey


we need to take responsability for what we say, even we are free to express our opinions. yeah, i think she was forced to say sorry, but when billions of people ask you to appologize, you have little chance to be right. do you know how many people die in the quake? do you know how many people still buried in the ruin? do you know how many families got apart? do you know how many people lost their families and lost an arm or a leg.....do you know how many people still in the threat of afterquake?

I can't understand how could this bitch say such cold bloody words. I believe for a human being with basic ethic, will condemn her.

by the way, she mentioned about chinese did not treat tibetan nicely. I just want to say, for people with that oppinion, please ask yourself, how much you know about the past and the present of tibet? do you know Dalai was a noble man in tibet and how they treated tibetan as slaves?