Actress Susan Sarandon branded Pope Benedict XVI a ‘Nazi’ Saturday.
Sarandon was attending the Hamptons Film Festival at the Bay Street Theater in Long Island, NY. During an interview conducted by actor Bob Balaban, she made the unflattering comparison.
She was discussing the anti-death penalty message of her film Dead Man Walking(1995). Sarandon also mentioned that she sent a copy of the non-fiction book(by by Sister Helen Prejean, whom Sarandon won an Oscar for playing in the film) on which the film is based to Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who was known as an opponent of capital punishment.
"The last one," she said, "not this Nazi one we have now."
When Balaban tried to veer from the topic, Sarandon repeated herself, drawing laughs from the audience.
Benedict was a member of the Hitler Youth in Bavaria during the 1940s. He claimed that he had no active participation in the organization.