Cannes Film Festival Condemns Lars von Trier's Nazi Comments (Cannes 2011)

The Cannes Film Festival has issued a comment in response to Lars von Trier's apology after the Danish director said he was a Nazi during a press conference for his new movie Melancholia Wednesday. 

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•Cannes Film Festival 2012

"The director states that he let himself be egged on by a provocation," the film fest tells The Hollywood Reporter. "The Festival acknowledges this and is passing on Lars von Trier's apology. The Festival is adamant that it would never allow the event to become the forum for such pronouncements on such subjects."

Earlier Wednesday, von Trier issued an apology, saying "If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize." The director -- who has made controversial comments before -- added, " I am not antisemitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi." Watch Here

At his film's press conference, von Trier said, "For a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew. Then I met [Danish and Jewish director] Susanne Bier and I wasn’t so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family were German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler … I sympathize with him a bit."

The Anti-Defamation League has also spoken out against the director's comments, telling THR, "he seems to be struggling with some personal ghosts."