Guy Pearce responds after Vanity Fair France Photoshopped his Cannes portrait

Guy Pearce has called out a magazine for editing a photo of him taken during the Cannes Film Festival, labelling it “a disgrace”.

Vanity Fair France issued an apology after being criticised for Photoshopping out a Palestinian flag pin the Australian actor was sporting on his tux.

“As the Palestinian people are already suffering great trauma and loss due to the vengeful regime of Netanyahu it is most unfortunate that a reputable publication like VF attempts to eliminate support that I or anyone chooses to offer,” Pearce told CNN in an emailed statement.

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“Personally I think it is a disgrace.”

Pearce is yet to address the controversy on his social media platforms but since the festival has shared messages of solidarity with Palestinians.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert star attended the famed film festival on the French Riviera to promote his new movie, The Shrouds.

Pearce donned the flag pin on the lapel of his Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo for the movie’s premiere.

He appeared to have posed for the portrait session just before or after taking to the red carpet – wearing the very same outfit in the shots featured in Vanity Fair France last week.

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Social media sleuths detected the flag pin was missing from the photograph published online, after a different photo, featuring the pin, was posted to the magazine’s Instagram the same day the article published.

A white, red, black and green bracelet — the colours of the Palestinian flag — was still visible on his wrist in the article image.

The move was quickly called out on social media and labelled by some as an attempt at censorship.

The backlash prompted the magazine to replace the story with the un-edited photo and issue a correction to the article.

“A previous version of this image was posted on the site, the original version was this one, posted simultaneously on Instagram,” Vanity Fair France wrote beneath the picture.

“We sincerely apologise.”

An apology was also posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“We have published by mistake a modified version of this photo on the site,” the magazine wrote in French on X in response to a viral post criticising the edited photo.

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“The original version was posted on Instagram the same day. We have rectified our mistake and we apologise.”

It’s unclear why a modified version of the picture existed in the first place.

Pearce was part of a series of actor portraits in the magazine, alongside stars like Sebastian Stan and Bella Hadid, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Condé Nast, Vanity Fair’s parent company, did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

– Reported with CNN.

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