Los Angeles, Oct 02: Austrian-born movie hero Arnold Schwarzenegger denied a news report claiming he had said he admired Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The actor was responding to the second shattering allegation by a news organisation to rock his campaign to become California's next governor in a day. "I don't remember any of those comments because I always despised everything that Hitler stood for," Schwarzenegger told reporters. "I hate the Third Reich and the whole Nazi philosophy," he said responding to a report by an American television network, quoting a 1975 interview in which he allegedly said he admired the dictator. The network said it had obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave during the filming of the body-building documentary "Pumping Iron" which contained the offending material.
When asked who his heroes were, Schwarzenegger reportedly said: "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power.
"I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it," he was quoted as having told an interviewer.
Schwarzengger said his support for the Jewish lobby Group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center proved he did not support Nazis.
Bureau Report