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NPR Fires Critic David Edelstein After 'Last Tango' Joke

NEW YORK (AP) - NPR's "Fresh Air" has parted ways with contributor  after the film critic made a joke about the rape scene in "Last Tango in Paris" on his Facebook page following Monday's death of director Bernardo Bertolucci.

In a statement Tuesday, "Fresh Air" said the post was "offensive and unacceptable" because of what actress Maria Schneider experienced filming the scene. Schneider said in a 2007 interview that the simulated sex scene was unscripted and that she felt bullied by Bertolucci and unsupported by her co-star Marlon Brando. "I was crying real tears," said Schneider, who died in 2011.

ITALY-CULTURE-CINEMA-FILM-BERTOLUCCI
Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore (L) and Italian director Francesco Maselli (R on wheelchair) and people pay their respects to Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, lying in state in an open coffin in a chapel of rest at Rome's Capitol Hill (Campidoglio) on November 27, 2018. - Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose films include 'Last Tango In Paris' and 'The Last Emperor', has died in Rome aged 77, Italian media said on November 26, 2018. Bertolucci, considered one of the giants of Italian and world cinema, won an honorary Palme d'Or for his life's work at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)
US actor Marlon Brando is directed 05 Ma
US actor Marlon Brando is directed 05 March 1972 in Paris during the filming of "Last tango in Paris" by Italian writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci (R). Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles on Thursday 1st July 2004 at the age of 80. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read /AFP/Getty Images)

Edelstein had captioned a photo of the scene with the line: "Even grief is better with butter." After a backlash, which included actress Martha Plimpton calling for Edelstein's firing, Edelstein said he was unaware of Schneider's comments and apologized.

Responding on Facebook, Edelstein said he now realized the joke was "grotesque" and removed it.

"I didn't remember (the scene) as a rape and I didn't know the real-life story about Maria Schneider," wrote Edelstein. "The line was callous and wrong even if it had been consensual, but given that it wasn't I'm sick at the thought of how it read and what people logically conclude about me. I have never and would never make light of rape, in fiction or in reality."

Hamptons International Film Festival 2016 - Day 4
EAST HAMPTON, NY - OCTOBER 09: David Edelstein speaks onstage at the Conversation With: Edward Norton during the Hamptons International Film Festival 2016 at East Hampton Middle School on October 9, 2016 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Hamptons International Film Festival)
(FILES) A photo taken on July 1, 2010 in
(FILES) A photo taken on July 1, 2010 in Paris shows French actress Maria Schneider being made a chevalier of the Art and Literature at the French Culture ministry in Paris. Maria Schneider who played in the Bernardo Bertolucci's film "Dernier tango à Paris" (Last Tango in Paris) died on February 3, 2011 in Paris. AFP PHOTO / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

He has been a longtime "Fresh Air" contributor, sharing reviews of hundreds of films on the program, which is produced by WHYY in Philadelphia.

Edelstein remains a staff critic at New York Magazine. A magazine spokesperson said the publication believes Edelstein but that it's "reviewing the matter internally."

Vulture Festival Presented By AT&T - Milk Studios, Day 2
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 20: David Edelstein and Johnny Knoxville speak onstage during "Johnny Knoxville: In Conversation" on Day Two of the Vulture Festival Presented By AT&T at Milk Studios on May 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Vulture Festival)

© 2018 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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