Russell Crowe Remains Unrepentant

By Stephen M. Silverman

02/28/2002 at 01:30 PM EST

Best Actor Oscar nominee Russell Crowe (for "A Beautiful Mind") -- who won the British Film Academy Award for the role in London Sunday night, isn't sorry for breaking into an argument with the show's producer. "I don't feel that I need to apologize to him. You know, I believe in everything I said, and I'll stand by it," he told the syndicated TV program "Inside Edition." Variety reported that after Crowe learned that a poem he had recited during his acceptance speech was cut before the BBC broadcast the awards, the star shoved and cursed show producer Malcolm Gerrie at the post-ceremony party. Asked if the incident would hurt his chances for an Oscar, Crowe told "Inside Edition": "I think the Oscars are supposed to be about the performance that you've given, and I don't think I'm nominated for a 'Worst Argument with an English TV Executive.' " The confrontation certainly is well-known around the world. Reuters reports that Crowe, 37, was in Sydney, Australia, for the premiere of "Mind," and reporters there asked him about the skirmish. "He's not bruised, he's not battered but I'm quite sure his ears are still ringing," Crowe said of Gerrie, 55. Variety reported that Crowe pushed the producer up against a wall and yelled obscenities at him while his security men stood by. The actor reportedly added, "I'll make sure you never work in Hollywood." Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted Crowe as saying, "I have very little remorse for what I said . . . though possibly it was a little more passionate in the cold hard light of day than I would have liked it to have been."