Shetty feels for Wills, Harry
2007-06-06 19:06
London - Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty voiced sympathy on Wednesday for Princess Diana's sons after a British broadcaster ignored their pleas to cut graphic images from a programme about her death.
Indian actress Shetty, who was at the centre of racist bullying row last year involving the same broadcaster, Channel 4, declined to explicitly condemn the decision to air the programme about the 1997 car crash in Paris which killed Diana.
"I empathise with Harry and William really," she told Sky News television.
"It is pretty sad, I had a lot of respect for Princess Diana. I thought she was a good woman," she added.
She said that television companies were liable to "stoop" to certain levels "to get the ratings up", but added: "Who am I to decide what's right and wrong ... each to his own."
Channel 4 stuck to its guns with the planned broadcast on Wednesday despite an unusual appeal from Princes William and Harry not to air photos taken after the fatal crash in the Pont d'Alma road tunnel.
Shetty had been insulted by fellow contestants when she appeared on the hugely popular Big Brother reality show in January.
As a result, Channel 4 was forced to make an unprecedented series of on-air apologies after communications watchdog Ofcom found it guilty of "serious editorial misjudgement" over incidents that sparked more than 40 000 viewer complaints and angry protests in India.