A London-based news agency has been forced to issue a major mein bad to Will Smith.
The twice Oscar-nominated actor received an apology and undisclosed damages from the World Entertainment News Network over a story published last year falsely quoting the movie star as calling Adolf Hitler "a good person."
WENN, which distributes gossipy tidbits to more than 1,000 news outlets in 25 different countries, did not interview Smith for the December article, titled "Smith: Hitler Was a Good Person," but rather picked up—and grossly misrepresented—comments the star made to Scotland's Daily Record.
"The article alleged that [Smith] had declared in an interview Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was a good person," Smith's attorney, Rachel Atkins, told London's High Court, where the case was being argued. "The allegation is false and without any foundation...It wholly misrepresents [his] actual words."
Atkins further told Justice David Eady that the misquotation, which was disseminated worldwide, was overwhelmingly disturbing and distressing to Smith. The attorney went on to clear up any lingering doubts about Smith's actual feelings on the Nazi leader, saying the star considered Hitler "a vile and heinous man."
"The allegations that he could think otherwise is deeply distressing...and has caused him acute embarrassment."
Atkins called Smith, who was not in court, a "highly respected actor of international repute and a man of complete integrity."
While WENN subsequently issued a correction to the story, no media outlets appeared to pick that up, unlike the widely circulated original item. As a result, Atkins argued, "the libel remains at large."
"Whilst the defendant retracted the article and circulated a correction and apology to the recipients of the original article, the correction and apology has not received any media attention."
John Melvillle-Smith, attorney for WENN, apologized on behalf of the agency for the obviously false article.
"Through me the defendant offers its apologies...for any distress and embarrassment caused by this article," he said. "The defendant accepts that the allegations...were misleading and published in error."
In addition to the formal apology and the undisclosed damages, WENN agreed to pay all legal costs for Smith.
Atkins told the court that in light of the settlement Smith "would not proceed any further in this action," as "his reputation has been entirely vindicated."
Per his attorney, Smith will be donating the whole of his settlement to charity.