Will Smith: Never loved Hitler

The World Entertainment News Network has apologised and paid damages to Will Smith after it reported him saying he thought Hitler was a good man.

His solicitor, Rachel Atkins, told London's High Court the article was "deeply distressing" to Smith and had caused him "acute embarrassment".

Ms Atkins said the star, who was not in court, was "a highly-respected actor of international repute and a man of complete integrity".

She said the I Am Legend star believed Hitler to be "a vile and heinous man".

"The article alleged that the claimant had declared in an interview that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was a good person," she said.

"The allegation is false and without any foundation.

"It wholly misrepresents the claimant's actual words, given in an interview to the Daily Record, a Scottish newspaper and website."

What Smith actually said was the slightly more subtle 'Hitler thought what he was doing was good':

"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today'," said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming."

Actually, we're quite taken with the idea of Hitler waking up in the morning and deciding what he's going to do each morning; perhaps over a bowl of sugarpuffs.