Crowe slams media over phone toss
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe slammed the media on Thursday for blowing his phone throwing incident out of proportion.
Crowe pleaded guilty earlier this month to third-degree assault, admitting to a judge that he threw a phone that hit a Manhattan hotel concierge in June. A Manhattan criminal court sentenced the actor to a conditional discharge, which means he must not get arrested for one year.
The judge also instructed Crowe to pay a $160 US court surcharge.
“I think it brings things back into perspective,” Crowe told reporters in Melbourne when asked if he was happy with the outcome.
“Travelling businessmen get touchy or testy with hotel staff in every major city all around the world,” Crowe told reporters in Melbourne. “That doesn’t excuse the fact that I lost my temper … What I did was stupid. I admitted that straight away.”
But, he added: “I got a $160 court cost fine for something that would have had more news print about it than some very horrific and specific things that we should know about in our community,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“That is what I mean by getting it into perspective.”
Had Crowe been convicted of the more serious charges initially filed against him – assault and criminal possession of a weapon, the telephone – he could have lost his right to work in the United States and might have faced seven years of prison time.
Crowe, 41, who won the Academy Award for best actor in 2001 for Gladiator, has also starred in such films as A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man.
The actor said he was planning to make a film next year with Australian director Baz Luhrmann – who made Moulin Rouge! and Strictly Ballroom – and fellow Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman, but would not provide any details.
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