Acclaimed Canadian director Norman Jewison says he was “shocked” by Doug Ford’s dismissive comments on Margaret Atwood, accusing the city councillor of betraying the author and all Canadian artists.

Asked by CBC Radio if he had any comment on Ford’s statement last month — after Atwood criticized his desire to close libraries — that, “If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is” — the 85-year-old director of films including Moonstruck and Jesus Christ Superstar didn’t hold back.

“I don’t think we celebrate our artists like we should and other countries celebrate them. So when you get somebody in Toronto on the city council and he doesn’t know who Margaret Atwood is, that’s shocking to me. I’m just absolutely shocked,” he said.

“The world knows who Margaret Atwood is. I mean, why doesn’t he?” said Jewison, the Toronto-born, U of T-educated founder of the Canadian Film Centre on Bayview Ave.

“Where does he live — in a hole somewhere?”

Jewison noted he has made many films on the theme of betrayal, adding: “I felt that Margaret Atwood was betrayed, but I felt all Canadian artists were betrayed by a statement like that. It just shocked me.”

The comments are the latest fallout from the Atwood-Ford spat, which started with Atwood, a frequent Twitter user, simply retweeting a petition to save Toronto libraries from cuts or privatization. The Star reported that her followers crashed the server hosting the online petition.

The Alias Grace author then criticized Doug Ford’s erroneous comment that there are more libraries in his ward than Tim Hortons and that he would happily close one of them.

After a meeting that looked at proposed budget cuts, including closing libraries, the councillor fired back: “Well, good luck to Margaret Atwood. I don’t even know her. If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is.” He also suggested she should get elected if she wants to weigh in.

The next day Ford clarified his comments, saying: “Everyone knows who Margaret Atwood is. But if she were to come up to 98 per cent of the people, they wouldn’t know who she was. But I think she’s a great writer and I look forward to her input.”

Since then, several allies of Mayor Ford on council have said they won’t vote to close libraries.

Atwood has accepted an invitation to tour the newly renovated main library in Hamilton, after Mayor Bob Bratina said her spat with Doug Ford “inspired us here in Hamilton to express to you our support for Canadian literature and culture.”

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