Pitt: Oil spill may warrant death penalty

LONDON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor and activist Brad Pitt says he would consider the death penalty for those responsible for the BP oil spill.

The Daily Mail said Pitt made the remark in "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," Spike Lee's documentary marking the fifth anniversary of when New Orleans was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

To help the region in the aftermath of the natural disaster, Pitt started up the Make it Right organization to build 150 affordable and sustainable homes in one of the areas of New Orleans worst hit by the hurricane. His efforts are documented in Lee's film, the Mail said.

The documentary reportedly was supposed to end on a positive note with the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. However, after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, killing 11 workers and creating the worst offshore spill in U.S. history, Lee decided to include it in his documentary, the newspaper said.

Asked in the film about how the people responsible for the crisis should be penalized, Pitt said, "I was never for the death penalty before -- I am willing to look at it again," the Mail reported.