As we discussed on Friday, Uma Thurman attended the annual Cannes Film Festival amfAR gala, which was held on Thursday night. Uma was actually the hostess of the auction, a position that has been filled by Sharon Stone for years. Stone didn’t attend this year’s Cannes festivities in any capacity, which is really, really unusual, although Page Six did say that Stone made all sorts of crazy demands from de Grisogono to attend their event and they turned her down. So maybe that’s why Stone didn’t even come out for the amfAR gala and why Uma got the honor of auctioneer. I mention this backstory because Stone has filled the position so many times, and by all accounts Stone loved to be outrageous and flirtatious and she was good at cajoling rich people to bid higher and higher on items for a good cause. I would guess that Uma was probably uncomfortable with “the Stone method” of auctioneer. Which is probably why Uma’s people are saying that Lapo Elkann violated Uma at the gala.
Uma Thurman served as the auction host for Cannes Film Festival’s annual amfAR event on Thursday, but a kiss from a high-profile guest left her feeling “very unhappy” and “violated.” Thurman, 46, shared an eye-catching kiss with Italian entrepreneur Lapo Elkann to celebrate his $196,000 auction prize. The two were seen in photos in a lip-lock following his win as the rest of the room watched on. Thurman’s rep, Leslie Sloane, tells PEOPLE the actress was not in on the stunt and felt “violated” by the kiss.
“It is opportunism at its worst. She wasn’t complicit in it,” Sloane said in a statement. “Somewhere in his head he must have thought it an appropriate way of behaving. It clearly wasn’t. She is very unhappy that this happened to her and feels violated,” she continued.
Sloane added that she is aware that there is a video tape of the incident and has requested that amfAR provide her with it.
Lapo, the former CEO of Fiat automobiles and scion of Italy’s famed Agnelli family, took home the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show experience, which included two tickets to both the show and exclusive afterparty. He also donated a customized Ferrari to be included in the auction.
I did have a moment where I thought, “That’s not how Sharon Stone would have handled it publicly,” just because Stone was known for kissing, lap-sitting and general outrageousness. But who knows? There are lots of stories about Lapo being messy (and drunk) in his personal life, and that’s probably coming into play here. He had no right to kiss Uma without her permission, and if the photos are any indication, he seemed to be uncomfortably boozy and handsy overall. Lapo was in the wrong, absolutely, and Uma has every right to be upset, to feel violated and to call him out.
ICYMI: Uma Thurman is livid at Fiat heir Lapo Elkann for kissing her https://t.co/xilRd6tEJf pic.twitter.com/ftxPUEzqaJ
— Page Six (@PageSix) May 21, 2016
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
That and having a lit cigarette so close probably irritated her. Blech
My first thought, too, but then I remembered she’s a smoker. I wish she would have forgotten about the cameras & being in a beautiful dress, and just knocked him on his butt.
High knee to the nut region. You just need a little nudge, and they crumble. What an obnoxious ass.
no surprise. dude is a known cokehead. and rich guys on coke tend to have issues with boundaries.
You’re so right. And it’s such a shame since he is really a kind and creative person when he’s sober.
yeah it is a shame. look at how much he donated, that deserves appreciation. and then he goes and sort of rains on his own parade. now uma is pissed and this is news and not his generousness.
And heroin and booze and…
Gross. He obviously thinks he is “owed” something for his money.
Bet she really appreciated a mouthful of fag breath.
She’s a heavy smoker. But I agree. I imagine he reeked of booze and cigarettes.
Yeah, her body language during the kiss is ewww. Poor thing.
She’s caressing his face, which tells me it’s not as “violating” at it seems.
She would have been shocked and embarrassed. A common reaction in awkward situations is to laugh and brush it off. She’s in public, being photographed and at a major event. She reacted how she thought was best. She can feel violated and doesn’t need to justify anything to anyone.
Yes, I agree with you Sarah.
thats what i thought. she doesnt seem to be pulling away there at all!
But she was giving him a nice hug in that position beforehand and then he’s gone in for the kiss, I doubt she had time to move.
There is more then these two pics of the event. I saw the one right before this was taken & it tells a very different story. He has his mouth partially open, his hand is on her back, her hands are on his face and she is bending backwards to get away from him but smiling awkwardly. I think her hands were actually trying to keep his face from coming in but he did anyway. Notice his hands on the back of her head. Not okay…..He also stuck in tongue in her mouth so that alone, if she decided a peck would be okay, is violating. You can see his tongue in one too- it’s gross. I think those pics have now been removed? I am sure they are somewhere on the interwebs.
I know how she feels. When that happens I go & vigorously brush my teeth. But she couldn’t do that!
A lot of people asked why she didn’t shove him away when it actually happened, and I get why she had to play nice at the event – she probably felt like she couldn’t just slap a high profile donor away from her. And he’s very clearly violating her boundaries. But then why castigate him publicly? AmFar can’t be happy about this.
She was probably in shock. Very few people would be able to recover well enough to plan and carry out a perfect response to being essentially assaulted, within a split second. When something like that happens, you act on instinct. Her instinct (which was probably due to decades of training as to red-carpet behaviour and decades of being photographed) was to freeze and not respond. It’s extremely problematic and victim-blamey to suggest that just because a woman doesn’t physically shove a man away, she’s responsible.
As to “why is she castigating him” – seriously?? She’s not castigating him, she’s calmly pointing out that forcibly grabbing and snogging a strange woman who doesn’t want to be kissed is Not Okay. The world urgently needs more women to stand up and say it’s not okay to touch women against their will.
Word.
My point was, I’m surprised that Uma’s flack is publicly calling out a big AmFar donor like this. The AmFar gala is a big deal, and the people that are there are serious money and power. You don’t burn bridges without a reason. Please read my comment a little closer next time.
But putting her hands like that is weird don’t you think. Not doing anything would not have been rude.
@Chinoiserie
To me, the first picture seems as though putting her hands like that could be a gentle and friendly way of trying to keep him from coming closer with his face. It doesn’t seem as though she is caressing him as a previous poster said.
I commented above but I saw two other pics of this event & they tell more to the story. I think those pics are not available for legit viewing anymore- probably because they are a little gross & if I was Uma I wouldn’t want a pic of this guy’s tongue in my mouth out there. But they explain (imo) that her hands were there to try to keep him from moving in. He then put his hand on the back of her head to push her towards him.
I need a swish of Listerine after merely looking at that picture…..
Wow Sharon stone refused to host over $$$ issues?????
He’s just a well-known douche and spoiled brat, nothing else.
Yuk. What a pig.
His pupils though. Yikes!
Good catch! Lapo used to be so sexy, before the substances started showing on his face.
Never understood how some people can think it’s ok to put their hands on other people. When anyone other than family members put their hands on me my reflex action is to look at their hand which usually causes them to remove their hand and apologize.
Wow look at that guys pupils. He is hiiiiiiiiiiiigh
the drugs have clearly begun to show on his face. not aging well. he’s only 38 and used to be rather boyish looking. yikes.