Claire Danes Banned in Manila?

Actress apologizes for "bigoted" comments about Philippines

By Daniel Frankel Sep 24, 1998 7:00 PMTags
Next time you're in the Philippines, don't expect to catch up on My So Called Life reruns.

Life lead Claire Danes has not exactly endeared herself to Filipinos, after dissing the country in two magazine articles. In fact, the island nation is so offended by the actress' remarks that its capital, Manila, is now considering banning all her movies.

In the October Premiere, Danes describes her experiences filming the Third World prison drama Brokedown Palace in Manila. She says the city "smelled like cockroaches" and "rats were everywhere. "The people," she adds, "do not have anything--no arms, no legs, no eyes." Previously, in the April Vogue, the Yale frosh called Manila a "ghastly and weird city."

Manila city council member Kim Atienza tells the Associated Press her city was willing to write off Danes' Vogue comments as "mere irresponsible statements of youth."

But Danes went "overboard" in Premiere, Atienza claims, and the Manila city council will discuss next week whether to ban all of the thespian's films--a list that not only includes the upcoming Brokedown Palace and Mod Squad, but the recently released Polish Wedding as well.

"She painted a surreal picture of Manila," Atienza said. "Those are irresponsible, bigoted and sweeping statements that we cannot accept. We cannot stop her from coming back because that is a diplomatic decision. But we can stop theaters in Manila from showing her films."

Added Jun Juban, producer of the Philippine-shot portion of Brokedown Palace: "I cannot apologize for Ms. Danes' acerbic tongue. I can only hope she chokes on it."

And finally, one Filipino tried to get her own message to Danes via E! Online reader email: "Your opinion about our country was such a VERY BIG CRAP!"

In a statement, Danes tries to put a spin on her comments. She says she was referring to the darker and poor section of Manila where she filmed Brokedown Palace, adding the Filipino people were "nothing but warm, friendly and supportive."

(ORIGINALLY POSTED 9/23/98 at 2:15 p.m.)