Director Lars von Trier is "persona non grata" in Cannes

Lars Von Trier may soon be directing the dark due to his bizarre anti-Semitic comments. Despite issuing an apology, the award-winning Danish director has been declared "persona non grata" at the Cannes Film Festival.

"The festival's board of directors, which held an extraordinary meeting, profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars Von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival," Cannes organizers said in a statement, according to New York Daily News reports.

Von Trier raised more than a few eyebrows when he made some off-the-cuff comments at the press conference for his new film 'Melancholia' starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. A verbal jab at fellow Danish filmmaker and rival Susanne Bier somehow mutated into an anti-Semitic rant in which he claimed that he is "actually a Nazi," he "sympathize[s] with [Hitler] a bit" and him macabrely joking about his next film, "We Nazis like to do things on a big scale. Maybe I could do 'The Final Solution.'"

His dark sense of humor was clearly lost on Cannes' board of directors, who, despite a swift apology from the director, held a meeting today and voted to blacklist von Trier from the festival.

Shortly after the press conference, Von Trier issued a statement: "If I have hurt someone by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi," PopEater informs.

Dunst said the director "likes to run his mouth," adding: "I think he dug himself in a deep hole today."

Von Trier is also known for his 2000 drama "Dancer in the Dark." In "Melancholia," which also stars Kiefer Sutherland, Dunst plays a depressed woman whose relationship with her sister (Gainsbourg) is challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide with Earth, OnTheRedCarpet.com says.