Sharon Stone not invited to Shanghai

American actress Sharon Stone has not been invited to the Shanghai International Film Festival, an official from the organizing committee has revealed.

The official confirmed that the actress, "is not among the list of guests to be invited". The main reason for the ban is because Sharon had made a comment at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22 that the Wenchuan earthquake was a result of "bad karma".

“This earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma?” China Daily quoted her as saying. Now even though the committee has not issued any official statement regarding a permanent ban on Sharon, earlier press reports have said that the actress will be banned from attending its events on a permanent basis.

"Stone and her films will not appear at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and will never, ever," Tang Lijun, deputy secretary-general of the festival, said on the news website Xinmin.cn last Wednesday May 28.

The Basic Instinct star had attended last year's festival as the Image Ambassador for the French cosmetic giant Christian Dior. But after what has happened, the 50-year-old actress may never be able to represent Dior in China, the company's fastest growing market.

"Due to customer reaction we have decided to pull her image from all of the department stores and from all of China," Dior China said in a statement released on Thursday May 29. "I will not watch her movies anymore," Wang Yi, who is 23-years-old and works for an international mining company in Shanghai, said yesterday. "She is totally ignorant of the pain and sorrow the Chinese people have suffered in the disaster. It was simply irresponsible," Wang added.

Sharon Stone has since apologized through her agency for making the comment.