Actor Will Smith receives damages over alleged praise for Hitler
London court makes Web site pay damages after claims the actor referred to Hitler as 'a good person.'
By DPA Tags: Hitler UKU.S. actor Will Smith Friday received undisclosed damages and a public apology over allegations that he described Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as a "good person."
The High Court in London ruled that the allegation against Smith, made in an article on an entertainment website, had caused the black American actor deep distress and embarrassment.
The defendant, World Entertainment News Network Limited, had agreed to "pay an amount of damages" - which was not disclosed in court - to the actor, his defense lawyer said.
Smith said he would donate the money to charity.
On December 23 last year the defendant published an article about the star entitled Smith: Hitler Was A Good Person.
The article alleged that the claimant had declared in an interview that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was a good person.
Smith's lawyer, Rachel Atkins, said the article "wholly misrepresented" the claimant's actual words, given in an interview to a newspaper in Scotland.
She said the actor believed that Hitler was "a vile and heinous man."
"The allegation that he could think otherwise is deeply distressing to the claimant and has caused him acute embarrassment," she said.
The actor was not present in court for the proceedings.
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