LOS ANGELES—Oscar winning “Black Swan” star Natalie Portman said she was “disgusted” with disgraced Dior designer John Galliano over his anti-Jewish rants.
“I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments,” Portman, who is Jewish and is the face of a Dior perfume, said in a statement.
“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,” she said in the statement released late Monday.
Galliano, until now considered a superstar in the fashion world, will be fired, Dior said Tuesday.
The British couturier had already been suspended by the firm last week after he was arrested and questioned by French police over allegations that he subjected a couple to a drunken, anti-Semitic tirade.
The decision to sack him followed the release by a British daily of a video of an earlier incident in the same Paris cafe in which he launched a similar rant, insulting other cafe patrons and declaring “I love Hitler.”
Portman, who won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for her role in the ballet thriller “Black Swan,” said: “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.”
Portman has an endorsement contract with Dior for its Miss Dior Cherie perfume.
She has worn Dior in the past, but on the Oscars red carpet Sunday Portman – who is heavily pregnant after meeting her husband-to-be on the “Black Swan” set – was in plum colored Rodarte gown, with Tiffany jewelry.