Dior apologises for Sharon Stone's earthquake 'karma' remarks

LONDON - Christian Dior has apologised to its Chinese customers after film star Sharon Stone, a model for the French fashion label, suggested that the Sichuan earthquake was bad karma resulting from Beijing's policy in Tibet.

Dior said in a statement from its China headquarters that it disagreed with Stone's comments and is "deeply sorry about them," according to report in the Financial Times.

"We will never support any opinion that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people," the statement continued.

Stone made the remarks about the earthquake at the Cannes Film Festival last week.

She said: "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.

"I've been concerned about how we should deal with the Olympics, because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma -- when you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Stone's comments attracted worldwide headlines after video footage of her remarks was posted on , which led to an outpouring of furious comments from Chinese internet users.

Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex, one of China's largest cinema chains, said he objected to the comments and said his company would not show any films featuring Stone, according to a report in The Beijing Times.

According to the Chinese authorities, 67,000 people have been confirmed dead in the May 12 earthquake and more than 20,000 are still missing.

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