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Saturday, May 31, 2008
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Sharon faces flak

Ananth Krishnan

Mounting criticism leads to action

Sharon Stone

SHANGHAI: American actor Sharon Stone has been dropped by fashion house Christian Dior, and banned for life by one of Asia’s largest film festivals, following her comments this week that linked the earthquake that struck China with bad “karma.”

Ms. Stone had said in an interview during the Cannes Film Festival that she “was not happy” about China’s dealings with Tibet: “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?”

Her comments have been strongly condemned by both the media in China and millions of ‘netizens’ on blogs and chat-rooms. More than 68,000 people died in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 12.

Following the outpouring of public criticism, the reprisals have been quick.

French fashion house Christian Dior announced here on Thursday that Ms. Stone would be dropped from all its Chinese advertisements and campaigns.

“Due to some customer reaction we have decided to pull her image from all of the department stores and from all of China,” Dior said in a statement released by its China headquarters in Shanghai.

“We just want our customers and fans to realise that her personal comments are not related to the company and of course we do not support any type of commentary that will hurt the feelings of our customers.”

On Friday, the Shanghai International Film Festival, one of the largest events on Asia’s film circuit, indicated that Ms. Stone, and her films, would be banned for life from the event. Ms. Stone had served on the jury of the SIFF last year.

By Friday morning, Ms. Stone’s familiar face was conspicuously absent from shop-windows and Dior hoardings on Nanjing Road, the heart of Shanghai’s fashion-district.

Many film and music stores in the city removed from display DVDs of Ms. Stone’s films.

UME cinemas, one of the largest cinema chains in China, said Ms. Stone’s films would never again be shown in their cinema halls.

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Christian Dior issued an apology from Ms. Stone, but it seems to have made no impact on the intensity of the criticism.

Contrite

Ms. Stone was quoted by the French company as saying she was “deeply sorry,” adding that she was “willing to take part in the relief work of China’s earthquake and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people.”

Ninety-nine per cent of more than three lakh respondents of a survey on qq.com, a popular Chinese website that hosts chat-rooms and discussion forums, said they “refused to accept her apology.”

More than 12 lakh people, at last count, have also signed a petition calling for a complete ban on Ms. Stone’s appearances on advertisements, television and cinema-screens in the country.

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