Weider Defends Governor

The Schwarzenegger campaign circulated a letter today from bodybuilding guru Ben Weider, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's longtime friend. The campaign is rounding up support for the governor after state Treasuter Phil Angelides said he once defended the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Weider wrote today:

"In 1975, during the height of apartheid in South Africa, the country wanted to host the Mr. Olympia competition and the world amateur bodybuilding competition. Participants from 60 countries were set to compete.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger was so opposed to the racist apartheid government in South Africa that he asked me not to allow the Mr. Olympia competition to be held there. Arnold asked to join me in South Africa for a meeting with that country's minister of sport, Dr. Pete Kornhuff, to discuss the event."

"Arnold Schwarzenegger forcefully explained to Dr. Kornhuff that the bodybuilding championships would not be held in South Africa unless black and white athletes participated together, black and white athletes stayed at the same hotels, black and white athletes ate at the same restaurants, and black and white fans were all allowed in the audience together. In short, Arnold would not participate if the competition was segregated."

The competition was desegregated.

The source of the controversy is Rick Wayne, a former bodybuilder who knew Schwarzenegger in the 1970s and '80s. In a 1990 book and a 2003 interview in the San Jose Mercury News, Wayne was quoted as saying Schwarzenegger seemed to defend the apartheid regime. "At the time, I just thought he was an out-and-out racist," Wayne told the Mercury News.

Wayne also said he "watched Schwarzenegger upset Jewish friend Joe Weider to the point of tears with his crass jokes, which included doing an impression of Hitler." Later in the article, Wayne says he's come to terms with Schwarzenegger's crass sense of humor: "Today I don't necessarily think he's a racist," he said. "How are you a racist and have a black guy as your friend?"

UPDATE: An earlier post listed the letter writer as bodybuilding legend Joe Weider. It was actually from his brother, Ben Weider, president of the International Federation of Bodybuilders.

(Photo: Paul Buck / AP)