Hilary Swank's Party Scandal Makes Publicists Fire Her

Hilary Swank's publicity firm fired the actress after she made headlines for receiving money from Chechen autocrat Ramzan Kadyrov to attend his birthday party on Oct. 5, Entertainment Weekly reported Friday.

A source revealed that 42West wound up parting ways with her because they couldn't work out a plan for handling the aftermath of her arrangement with Kadyrov, who President Thor Halvorssen of the Human Rights Foundation said had a reputation for torturing and executing people, and might even have something to do with individuals who've gone missing. Kadyrov insisted that there's no truth to these claims.

Halvorssen added that when he wrote Swank urging her not to attend, he got a response from her representatives that said she wasn't planning to.

Hilary Swank obviously has the right to earn a living entertaining the highest bidder, but this sort of venality should be exposed-especially after claiming she was not going, Halvorssen said in a statement on Oct. 7. We must remember the disgrace...Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado, Beyoncé and 50 Cent were exposed to after singing for Gadhafi's family and earning millions of dollars for it.

Eight days after the event, Swank sent a statement to The Associated Press, saying that if she had a better understanding of Kadyrov's alleged brutality she never would've come. I deeply regret attending this event, Swank said.

Following a statement Halvorssen made about the money she received, a representative for Swank told Entertainment Weekly she'd be donating it to various charitable organizations.

The Independent on Sunday reported that all that bad publicity Swank's gotten required her to do some firing of her own during the preceding week when she ceased working with Jason Weinberg, her manager and friend of eight years.

R&B vocalist Seal also made it to Kadyrov's party, as did cinematic tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme.