Update!

Stone Thrown Over "Karma" Comments

Actress apologizes for blaming China's earthquake on "bad karma"; gets dropped from Christian Dior ads in country

By Gina Serpe May 29, 2008 8:50 PMTags
Sharon StoneTony Barson/WireImage.com

UPDATE: Sharon Stone's mea culpa isn't going over too well on the other side of the Great Wall. Organizers of the Shanghai International Film Festival have permanently banned the actress and her films from any future involvement in the fest.

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Sharon Stone wasn't wrong about karma. She was just wrong about who exactly would be on the receiving end.

The loose-lipped actress has apologized for comments made on the Cannes red carpet last week, insinuating that the devastating earthquake that rocked China, which so far has claimed more than 68,000 lives, could be chalked up to karma for its treatment of Tibet.

"Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people," the 50-year-old firecracker said in a statement. "I am willing to take part in the relief work of China's earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people."

Relief may be the only type of work Stone can get in the country for quite some time. The actress' mea culpa came on the heels of haute couturier Christian Dior's announcement that it has dropped spokesmodel Stone from its ads in China, where she serves as the face of Dior's Capture Totale skin care line.

"We just want our customers and fans to realize that her personal comments are not related to the company and of course we don't support any type of commentary that will hurt the feelings of our customers," the company said in a statement.

Stone's comments caused an immediate uproar in China, with the nation's state-run Xinhua News Agency calling her the "public enemy of all mankind," while the Beijing Times reported that China's already strict censors for foreign films would not allow any of the actress' movies into the country.

Which, considering Basic Instinct 2, isn't really a bad deal.

Stone got into this mess in the first place following a very brief—though apparently not brief enough—interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News, which asked for her thoughts on the earthquake at the French film festival.

"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," she 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?"

Guess what goes around really does come around after all.

(Originally published on May 29, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. PT.)