New York, NY, October 17, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on actress Susan Sarandon to apologize to the Catholic community and all those she may have offended in referring to the current pope as "a Nazi."  The League said the comment, as reported in news accounts, was "disturbing, deeply offensive and completely uncalled for."

In discussing her 1995 film "Dead Man Walking," Sarandon reportedly told an audience last week that she had sent a copy of the book on which the film is based to the Pope.  "The last one," she said, "not this Nazi one we have now."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We hope that Susan Sarandon will have the good sense to apologize to the Catholic community and all those she may have offended with this disturbing, deeply offensive and completely uncalled for attack on the good name of Pope Benedict XVI. 

Ms. Sarandon may have her differences with the Catholic Church, but that is no excuse for throwing around Nazi analogies.  Such words are hateful, vindictive and only serve to diminish the true history and meaning of the Holocaust.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.