LOS ANGELES - Will Smith is angry about celebrity gossip website articles he said misinterpreted a recent remark he made in a Scottish newspaper about Adolf Hitler.
In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going: `Let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'''
The quote was preceded by the writer's observation: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.''
Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip websites posted articles about the comment, many saying Smith believes Hitler was a "good'' person.
"It is an awful and disgusting lie,'' Smith said in a statement Monday provided by his publicist.
"It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation.''
"Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet,'' read the statement.