News > Banned in China: Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone is facing a boycott of her films in China following some remarks she made at Cannes suggesting that the catastrophic May 12th earthquake was due in part to bad "karma." In particular, she feels that the deaths of some 65,000 Chinese might have something to do with the nation's mistreatment of the Tibetan people and her "good friend" the Dalai Lama. Here is her exact quote, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

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 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 Chinese are not taking her off-the-cuff statement lightly. Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, told reporters that his chain would no longer show films featuring the 50-year-old American star, and that her comments were "inappropriate."

I find this whole fiasco very amusing, but be sure to read the user comments about Sharon Stone over at THR. Here's a favorite:

I was her fans but not anymore and in fact, I couldn't believe what I had heard from her this time. She has really made her herself enemy of 1.3 billion Chinese people. We will never forgive her for her visious remarks and as our Chinese old saying "if this could be tolerated, then, nothing can't be tolerated".

There's nothing quite like appointing yourself the spokesperson for a sixth of the human race when you want to feel important on the internet.

-David Morgan