Swank Not the First to Party With Bad Guys

Well, that didn’t take long: Hilary Swank has officially apologized for celebrating the birthday of Chechnya's leader, a charming fellow accused of kidnappings, torture, and killings. But she can take comfort in the fact that she's not exactly a trailblazer when it comes to stars rubbing shoulders with questionable figures. Newser rounds up a few other celebrities who have been derided for their choice of company:

• When Bob Dylan performed in China, Maureen Dowd called it "a whole new kind of sellout," accusing him of allowing the Communist Party to censor his set.

• Beyonce, Usher, Nelly Furtado, 50 Cent, and Mariah Carey all received money by performing for the Gadhafi family—click to find out what they did with the cash.
• Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan's hated dictator Islam Karimov, has rubbed noses with Julio Iglesias and Sting.
• Naomi Campbell is accused of receiving blood diamonds from Liberian strongman Charles Taylor.
• Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Kevin Spacey, and Danny Glover have all hung with Hugo Chavez.

As for Swank, "I deeply regret attending this event," she said in a statement to the AP today. "If I had a full understanding of what this event was apparently intended to be, I would never have gone." Swank, who was spotted along with other celebrities including Jean Claude Van Damme at a concert held as part of Ramzan Kadyrov’s birthday festivities, says the concert invite did not mention Kadyrov’s birthday. (More Hilary Swank stories.)