By Qu Xiaozhen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-04 07:55

SHANGHAI -- An official from the organizing committee of the Shanghai International Film Festival said yesterday American actress Sharon Stone "is not among the list of guests to be invited".

The committee has so far not issued any official statement regarding a permanent ban on Stone, he said.

Previously, media reports said the film festival, to be held next week, will ban the actress from attending its events on a permanent basis.

"Stone and her films will not appear at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and will never, ever," Tang Lijun, deputy secretary-general of the festival, was quoted as saying on the news website Xinmin.cn last Wednesday.

Stone's comment that the Wenchuan earthquake was a result of "bad karma" had caused much dismay.

The 50-year-old star of Basic Instinct attended last year's festival as the Image Ambassador for the French cosmetic giant Christian Dior.

However, the actress is now likely never to have the opportunity to represent Dior in China, the company's fastest growing market.

"Due to customer reaction we have decided to pull her image from all of the department stores and from all of China," Dior China said in a statement released on Thursday.

"I will not watch her movies anymore," Wang Yi, 23, who works for an international mining company in Shanghai, said yesterday.

"She is totally ignorant of the pain and sorrow the Chinese people have suffered in the disaster. It was simply irresponsible," Wang said.

Stone made her comment about the earthquake at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22.

" This earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma?" she said.

The actress has since apologized through her agency for the comment.