– "Oh My God, This Is Terrible": That's what Kirsten Dunst whispered to Lars von Trier during his now-infamous rambling "Ok, I'm a Nazi" speech at a Cannes
press conference, and she was right. To show its displeasure, the film
festival has taken the unprecedented step of declaring the director
"persona non grata," banning him from the rest of the event. It remains
to be seen, however, how terrible the controversy will in fact be for
the film, since von Trier's knack at pushing taboo buttons has made hits
out of earlier films — but taints of Nazism and
anti-semitism make for pretty bad press.  As for von Trier, he's not so repentant: "I'm
proud to have been declared persona non grata. This is maybe the first
time in film history that has happened," the director is now saying. "I
think one of the reasons is that the French themselves treated the Jews
badly during the second world war. Therefore it is a touchy subject for
them. I highly respect the Cannes festival, but I also understand that
they are very angry with me right now." [Washington Post and Guardian]

– Damien Hirst Joins Ai Weiwei Protest: The notorious YBA has joined forces with Anish Kapoor and other prominent British artists and art officials in signing a Times of London petition demanding China's release of Ai Weiwei. The artists also signed a large photo of Ai that was brought to the 10 Downing Street residence of Prime Minister David Cameron. [AFP]

– Picasso's Charitable Wastrel: Following the $51.6 million sale of Picasso's famous Blue Period portrait of his friend and fellow brothel-goer Angel Fernandez de Soto at Sotheby's last year, Broadway impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber is giving the entirety of his proceeds to the arts in the form of grants and scholarships. [Guardian]

– James Cuno's Paycheck: The new president of the J. Paul Getty Trust will be making pretty much as much bank as his predecessor, James Wood.
Cuno's pay package will resemble that allotted to Wood, who earned
$728,000 per year in base pay, plus $240,000 annually for housing. The
new Getty leader will also score a $250,000 signing bonus and $150,000
in relocation expenses. All of this adds up to a total compensation of
$1.368 million his first year, which will be boosted to $1.468 on his
65th birthday (best present ever). After his first year, his annual
salary will drop to $1.068 million plus bonuses and raises. [LAT] 

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– Zahi Hawass, Still Around: "Do I look like a minister to you?
Of course not!" attests the on-again-off-again Egyptian minister of
antiquities who came under fire for his support of Hosni Mubarak.
"I am not part of the old regime — I love Egypt, I love archaeology and
I will never be a politician. I'm a damned archaeologist through and
through." To this, he ominously adds, "My critics are trying to use the
revolution against me, but in here I have plenty of information on them
too. We'll see who comes out on top." [Guardian]

– Barnes & Noble Censors Collier Schorr Photo: The bookstore empire has announced that it will put a wrapper around the new issue of Dossier magazine, whose cover features a photograph, taken by artist Collier Schorr, of androgynous male model Andrej Pejic.
Apparently, the book chain was afraid customers would think
Pejic was a woman and therefore was displaying breasts. "The model is
young and it could be deemed as a naked female," B&N stated. To
which Dossier co-founder Skye Parrott has replied, "We knew that
this cover presented a very strong, androgynous image, and that could
make some people uncomfortable. That's partly why we chose it. I guess
it has made someone pretty uncomfortable." Pejic, meanwhile, has weighed
in saying, "I'm sure most people think of me as a woman. It doesn't
bother me anymore and I feel fine about it." [WaPo]