17 April 2007
The pop singer Bryan Ferry has apologized for remarks he made in an interview with a German newspaper in which he praised Nazi iconography as "just amazing" and "really beautiful". The 61-year-old lead singer of the band Roxy Music had told ‘Welt am Sonntag’ that "The way that the Nazis staged themselves and presented themselves, my Lord! I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags – just fantastic. Really beautiful." In a statement, Ferry now said he was "deeply upset" about the negative publicity the interview triggered, and added: "I apologize unreservedly for any offense caused by my comments on Nazi iconography, which were solely made from an art history perspective. I, like every right-minded individual, find the Nazi regime, and all it stood for, evil and abhorrent."
Lord Janner, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, welcomed the statement. He told the ‘Reuters’ news agency: "His apology was total, appropriate and absolutely necessary. I hope that he will never make the same mistake again."
