Jason Momoa, the Hollywood superstar famous for playing characters such as DC's Aquaman and Dune's Duncan Idaho, has apologized for "disrespecting culture" with photographs taken inside a religious building where photography is banned.
The actor and camera aficionado (opens in new tab) issued an apology for recently capturing pictures inside the Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel, Italy, which is off-limits to photography, as flash can be harmful to the artwork.
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Jason Momoa took to Instagram to share his pictures enjoying his trip to Italy, where he has been filming the upcoming movie Fast X. However, the 42-year-old Aquaman 2 star soon found himself in hot water as fans were outraged that he – along with tourists and what appears to be security – took photos inside the Sistine chapel.
His Instagram followers soon took their anger out in the comment section, with one user saying, "We can't take pics but celebrities can, nothing against Jason (I adore him) but it's not fair".
In suitably Momoaic fashion, the star released a video apology saying that it wasn’t his intention to "disrespect the culture" (after pushing a load of iron while listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
"I came here when I was 19 or 20 to experience the Sistine Chapel, I’ve always wanted to and now that I can, I gave a wonderful donation to bring my friends and crew because we only had a couple of days off to experience these places," Momoa continued.
"And then I found people wanted to take pictures with me, which is very odd, during a trip to the Vatican with all this wonder and they want to take pictures with me, which I don’t get, but regardless, I did."
However, these are the same images that got the Hollywood actor into deep water with the Vatican and his loyal fanbase. Momoa ended his apology video by saying, "I would never want to do anything to disrespect someone’s culture. If I did, I apologize. It was not my intention. I paid to have that private moment and gave a nice donation to the church. I love you. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
My personal take is Momoa was just living in the moment and got excited in his surroundings – we all do it. But it does comes just a day after he posted a video were he said that the Paparazzi can F*%@o* and offered the press photos for free (opens in new tab)….
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