Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon is feeling the heat from Catholic and Jewish groups after an interview with actor Bob Balaban at The Hamptons Film Festival in New York. The Huffington Post mistakenly identified a Newsday interview as the source for comment in which the actress referred to Pope Benedict as a Nazi.
There was no Newsday interview. Fortunately, Southhampton Patch's Brendan J. O'Reilly was there with an audio tape of the conversation as reported below:
"She gave a copy of the film to the pope," Sarandon said of Sister Helen. "The last one, not this Nazi one, the one before." The audience broke out in laughter at the shock of how candidly Sarandon spoke, then clapped.
"It's a shame you're so afraid to say what you really think," Balaban joked.
"He was a Nazi Youth, I'm not talking, or making it up," Sarandon replied.
She did, however, get the name of the group wrong: Benedict XVI was a member of the Hitler Youth, a paramilitary Nazi group, but membership was mandatory for German teens during the Nazi regime.
She quickly got back on topic: "She showed the pope that his lack of being clear was being used to rationalize the death penalty and after that he issued a statement that was much more definitive before he died."
From this exchange it is clear that it was Sister Helen Prejean who gave the copy of the film to the Pope. For the entire article go to SouthamptonPatch