Natalie Portman speaks out at John Galliano’s anti-Semitic tirade (update)

(HMG Celebrity News) – New Oscar winner Natalie Portman, who has an endorsement contract with French fashion house Dior for its Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, has spoken out condemning its chief designer, John Galliano, for anti-Semitic remarks after a video surfaced of Mr. Galliano appearing to deliver a tirade in a Paris bar.  The 29-year-old actress, who won best actress at the Academy Awards on Sunday for her role in Black Swan, said she was shocked by a video in which Mr Galliano says ‘I love Hitler’ and says two women ‘should have been gassed’.  In a prior incident, Galliano was accused of verbally abusing a French couple last week in the bar, and  was suspended Friday from Dior.  Galliano who claimed his innocence in the first incident, went back to the same bar a few days later and was filmed making another anti-Semitic laced tirade.

In a statement released Monday evening in Los Angeles, Ms. Portman who is engaged to to French ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied said: “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.”

Galliano was due to present his autumn-winter collection for Dior in Paris this week.  Galliano’s lawyer still denies that his client is anti-Semitic. “What matters isn’t what’s on the internet, what matters are the testimonies and the hearings,” he said.

Update: The New York Times reports Christian Dior has fired John Galliano on Tuesday after an online video clip circulated around the world showing its star designer shouting anti-Semitic abuse at people in a Paris bar.

Galliano’s dismissal comes on the first day of Paris Fashion Week and three days before his Dior show was due to run on Friday.

It was not clear whether the show would go ahead, although on Monday, the press office of John Galliano, the designer’s own label, said his Sunday show was still on. Dior is the leading fashion house at LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group.