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Today’s top trending topic comes to us from the Cannes Film Festival where Danish director Lars von Trier made headlines with his failed attempt at a goof.

Von Trier who is in Cannes promoting his film ‘Melancholia’ starring Kirsten Dunst and other people I’ve never heard of fell off the Nazi wagon and started in on a rambling, anti-Semitic diatribe. I’ve only read the quotes and haven’t seen video but this thing just seems like a car pileup that wouldn’t stop.

From David Germain of the Associated Press:

In an interview afterward, von Trier said he had been joking and did not think people took his comments seriously.

But he had reporters buzzing as he commented about his German heritage. Von Trier launched into a rambling train of thoughts, starting with how he used to think he was a Jew and his disappointment when he learned he was not.

"I really wanted to be a Jew, and then I found out that I was really a Nazi, because, you know, my family was German," von Trier said. "Which also gave me some pleasure. ...

"What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end," von Trier said. "He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews. ...

"I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass."

Von Trier then asked, "How can I get out of this sentence?"

Going on to say he liked Hitler aide Albert Speer, von Trier finally wrapped up with the wisecrack, "OK, I'm a Nazi."

Afterward, von Trier told The Associated Press the remarks just spilled out without any forethought.

"I don't have so much to say, so I kind of have to improvise a little and just to let the feelings I have kind of come out into words," von Trier said. "This whole Nazi thing, I don't know where it came from, but you spend a lot of time in Germany, you sometimes want to feel a little free and just talk about this (expletive), you know?"

As a person who writes a daily blog that attempts to be comedic I can see how someone would go wayward with a joke. I know I’ve done it quite a few times. Lucky for me not that many people are reading and I practically have nothing to lose. This guy, on the other hand, may find it a little harder to get jobs if he’s skewering Jews, which is oddly the title of his next movie.

Aside from the weird racial conversation von Trier also made Dunst uncomfortable when he said he wanted to make a porno starring her. I don’t know how eager Dunst is going to be to sign on for another film with Nazi McBad Joke and in case he didn’t noticed the biggest anti-Semitic porn lover just got capped in the eye so his target audience definitely has taken a hit.