A London news agency must pay undisclosed damages and apologize to Will Smith for publishing a story that erroneously quoted the actor as saying Adolf Hitler was a “good person.” E! Online reports that the World Entertainment News Network picked up and greatly distorted quotes from Smith’s interview with Scotland’s Daily Record to create its gossip piece, which received worldwide media attention.
Smith’s lawyers argued that while WENN had run a correction, no media outlets had circulated it, so “the libel remains at large." Smith considers Hitler “a vile and heinous man," said one of the lawyers. WENN is paying Smith’s legal costs, in addition to the settlement, which the movie star is donating to charity. (More Will Smith stories.)