Following Steven Spielberg’s withdrawal from the Olympics over the Darfur issue, a number of other international celebrities involved with planning for the Games have spoken out to defend their roles. From The Guardian:
Iranian Oscar nominee Majid Majidi, popular Hong Kong director Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, and Briton Daryl Goodrich, who made an influential film for the London bid to host the 2012 Games, were in the Chinese capital for the premiere of the “Vision Beijing” project.
…”I was shocked and surprised that Steven stepped back from his work with the Beijing Olympics,” Lau, whose film “Infernal Affairs” was recently remade by Hollywood as “The Departed”, told a news conference.
“It’s clear that the Olympics is all about sport and nothing to do with politics.”
Meanwhile, broadcaster France24 interview IOC chair Jacques Rogge about Spielberg’s decision:
