Australia’s major pay TV company has apologized for broadcasting a documentary about Adolf Hitler written by Holocaust denier David Irving. Foxtel CEO Kim Williams said this week he was “acutely embarrassed†that his company screened “The War Files†last Saturday on the History Channel. The documentary, which is based on Irving’s book “Hitler’s War,†paints a revisionist picture of Hitler. Williams was apprised of Irving’s role in the documentary by a former Jewish member of Parliament, Barry Cohen, who served in the Cabinet in the 1980s. In response, Williams said he canceled the rest of the series and ordered an investigation. “There can be no excuse for such an offensive program seeing the light of day,†Williams wrote to Cohen. In a separate letter to Williams, Michael Danby, the only Jewish member of federal Parliament, said he was “very impressed†by the Foxtel chief’s prompt response to pull the series. Irving, who lost a libel suit he filed against Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books in 2000, is banned from entering Australia. Last year he served a 10-month prison sentence in Austria for associating with neo-Nazis.
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