Will Smith’s apology accepted

The Anti-Defamation League yesterday said that actor Will Smith did the right thing by backtracking on his comments about Adolf Hitler.

"We welcome and accept Will Smith's statement that he did not mean for his remarks about the Nazi leader to be mistaken as praise," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Smith caused furore when he told a reporter for a Scottish newspaper that Hitler did what he "thought was good."

The quote was preceded by the writer's observation: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good."

Will later issued a statement saying he had been misunderstood, declaring "Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on his planet."

That "unequivocal condemnation" was good enough for the ADL, reports the New York Daily News. "We would have expected no less from a celebrity of his standing," Foxman said.