Angelina Jolie Hits Back at Racist Taunt Rumors  11/18/06

Angelina Jolie has spoken out following the arrests of three of her bodyguards who fought with parents at a school in India, insisting the media was to blame for the fracas.

Indian police in Mumbai detained the minders after parents complained they had treated them and their children roughly during a dispute.

But Jolie, who was filming A Mighty Heart at the school when the fight broke out amid a sea of paparazzi, has reacted angrily to reports that one of her bodyguards used racial slurs as he battled parents.

Mohammed Yusuf Patni, the general secretary of the Anjuman-eIslam school's Parent Teacher Association, claimed one of the bodyguards referred to a parent as a "bloody Indian."

But in a statement released today (17NOV06), Jolie fumes, "I would never work with anyone that was derogatory towards another man's race. My family is of mixed race."

The actress is also upset by media reports of the incident, which took place yesterday (16NOV06) as parents arrived to pick up their children from school and were met by a sea of paparazzi.

She adds, "It is not surprising that the press involved failed to mention their share of the responsibility in the chaos."