News

Due to remarks she made at the Cannes Film Festival about Chinese-Tibetan relations and last month's devastating earthquake in China, which killed over 65,000 people and left five million without homes, actress Sharon Stone may face a future of banned films in the country. Ng See-Yuen, the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers and founder of the UME Cineplex chain, has stated that actors should not comment on natural disasters and political issues such as this and has said his theaters will not show anymore of Stone's films.

The blonde actress, who bared it all in her breakthrough role in Basic Instinct, insinuated that the horrific May 12 quake that rocked China may have been the result of karmic retribution due to the country's treatment of Tibetans and their exiled spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama, whom Stone described as a "friend." Regardless of her thoughts on the issue, Stone's comment does smack of foot-in-mouth syndrome.

Stone's unfortunate quote is as follows: "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. And then all 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?" The actress hasn't issued an apology to the Chinese government or people at press time.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
05.28.08