Russell Crowe In Trouble For Smoking

Reportedly Lights Up Onstage In Native New Zealand Where It's Illegal

(AP)  Actor Russell Crowe is under a cloud in his country of birth for allegedly smoking while singing at a clubs with his new band despite New Zealand's ban on cigarettes in public venues.

Oscar-winning Crowe, 41, allegedly lit up in two clubs and a concert hall during his three-concert tour of the country with his new folk-rock band The Ordinary Fear of God.

Crowe, who in the past has been in trouble for throwing a punch and a telephone, did smoke during his first concert at Leigh on North Island, his New Zealand promoter Brett Eccles said Monday.

"I saw him smoking at Leigh, but it was very discreet and ... there was no reaction from the audience," Eccles told The Associated Press, adding that after-the-fact reaction has begun to "mushroom."

"I'm told he smoked at SkyCity in Auckland and in Wellington," he said, adding he was unaware of whether Crowe had been told smoking on stage was illegal in New Zealand.

The country's Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act, which bans smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos and all other indoor public venues.

A spokesman for the SkyCity club, Paul Gregory, confirmed that Crowe smoked during a halftime break but did not think it would have been reasonable to halt the concert.

He would not say if someone warned Crowe, but said the performer's management was aware that it was a nonsmoking venue.

In the capital, Wellington, the "Dominion Post" newspaper reported that "Wellington-born Crowe took puffs from a cigarette, along with copious sips from what appeared to be a bottle of port, during his 90-minute show at the Ilott Theater."

Ministry of Health chief adviser of public health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said officers follow up every complaint.

"If there was a report of what may be a breach of the legislation, we would follow that up," he said.

Crowe would not face any legal action for the breach, but venue owners could face fines of several thousand dollars.

It's not the first brush with law for the star of "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind." A New York court last year gave Crowe a conditional discharge after he pleaded guilty to throwing a phone at a hotel receptionist.

Dominion Post reviewer Simon Sweetman wrote that he found Crowe "an okay singer" but a "stunningly average" performer who should stick to his more successful day job, acting.