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From Yahoo!News
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/spokesman-jackie-chan-comments-out-context-ap
+ Show Spoiler +
HONG KONG - Jackie Chan's comments that freedom may not be good for China were taken out of context, his spokesman said Tuesday, while Facebook users and Chinese scholars condemned the veteran actor on the Internet in a spreading backlash.
The 55-year-old star of the " Rush Hour " action films caused a huge uproar after he told a business forum on Saturday that it may not be good for authoritarian China to become a free society .
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said Saturday, adding freedoms in his native Hong Kong and Taiwan made those societies "chaotic." Taiwan, which split from China in 1949, is democratic and Hong Kong , a separately ruled Chinese territory, enjoys some free elections.
"I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want," he said.
Hong Kong and Taiwanese legislators lashed out at the comments, with some accusing Chan of insulting the Chinese race.
Solon So, the chief executive of Chan's company JC Group and his main spokesman, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday the actor was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry and not Chinese society at large.
Chan was speaking at a panel discussion about Asian entertainment industries and was asked to discuss movie censorship in China.
"Some people with ulterior motives deliberately misinterpreted what he was saying," So said.
Meanwhile, the public backlash against Chan grew.
A group of Chinese scholars published a letter on the Internet on Monday accusing Chan of "not understanding how precious freedom is," even though "free Hong Kong provided the conditions for you to become an international action star."
A Facebook group set up by Hong Kong users calling for Chan to be exiled to North Korea had drawn more than 2,600 members by Tuesday. The group also posted form letters urging Hong Kong's Baptist University and Academy for Performing Arts to strip Chan of honorary degrees they gave the actor.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board , for which Chan serves as an ambassador, had received 17 complaints as of Monday that his comments "hurt the image of Hong Kong and aren't reflective of Hong Kong people ," a publicist said. She declined to give her name because of company policy.
Opposition Taiwanese politicians on Monday demanded that the city government of Taipei strip Chan of his role as ambassador of the Deaf Olympic Games to be held in the Taiwanese capital in September.
I just found funny this part:
A Facebook group set up by Hong Kong users calling for Chan to be exiled to North Korea had drawn more than 2,600 members by Tuesday. The group also posted form letters urging Hong Kong's Baptist University and Academy for Performing Arts to strip Chan of honorary degrees they gave the actor.
Kind of ironic if you assume that freedom of speech is a prerequisite for a society to be called "free".
This action seems extremely contradictory to what they are preaching.
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That's pretty sad that the "American" people only know him for Rush Hour. Seriously? -_-
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On April 22 2009 07:34 deathgod6 wrote:
That's pretty sad that the "American" people only know him for Rush Hour. Seriously? -_-
My mother (of all people) and I together own every single movie he has ever put out (english or otherwise) and always see his new movies on opening weekends together, so no, not seriously.
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a LOT of chinese think/feel the same way he does, example on this forum is haduken who has written about it much in the past
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Baa?21245 Posts
On April 22 2009 07:42 Lemonwalrus wrote:Show nested quote +On April 22 2009 07:34 deathgod6 wrote:
That's pretty sad that the "American" people only know him for Rush Hour. Seriously? -_- My mother (of all people) and I together own every single movie he has ever put out (english or otherwise) and always see his new movies on opening weekends together, so no, not seriously.
I'm pretty sure you're in the minority. I'm pretty sure most Americans don't know of any of Chan's non-Hollywood films.
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I think most Americans know about them but generally haven't watch them. I never watch the full movie, I mostly just watch the fight scenes on youtube. As for television, every once and a while I see an old dubbed Jackie Chan movie on Spike. They're really fun to watch and the dubbing is hysterically bad!
My two cents:
Who gives a shit if Jackie Chan believes in less freedom for individuals. Just because he may be in a minority doesn't mean he doesn't have a right to believe what he believes. He shouldn't be persecuted for it. Hell, isn't that the point of freedom? Why, strip his degrees away....it's not like he got them for philosophy....
People are such hypocrites.
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I don't see much problems with such a comment, anybody is entitled to their own opinion, not whatever people just blindly believe. Maybe he's wrong for believing that having control over the population is bad, but it's nobody's place to say that he deserves to have his titles removed just for this comment?
And that Facebook group .. just unbelievable.
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Baa?21245 Posts
It's because people love to whine and bitch about stuff like this whenever it involves a celebrity. Whatever, this'll die out within the week when people find something new to harp on about. Meh.
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So Chinese people don't care, but other nations like Taiwan are crying racism against the Chinese? Grow up please, no one cares.
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On April 22 2009 08:53 Avidkeystamper wrote:
So Chinese people don't care, but other nations like Taiwan are crying racism against the Chinese? Grow up please, no one cares.
Because the current government of the People's Republic allows people that much freedom of speech.
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Baa?21245 Posts
On April 22 2009 08:53 Avidkeystamper wrote:
but other nations like Taiwan
Taiwan's not a country =P
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On April 22 2009 09:24 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Taiwan's not a country =P
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United States20666 Posts
Give one solid argument as to why Taiwan (ROC) is not a de facto sovereign state.
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Baa?21245 Posts
Because basically no country recognizes the ROC as a nation?
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Taiwan is a de facto sovereign state
but that doesn't mean its a country.
as Jet Li would say, ask the UN
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If im not mistaken, there are 24 countries that recognice the sovereign of Taiwan.
but i can be mistaken >< studied it looooong ago
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a facebook of 2600 people?  I dont know why people bother mentioning any facebook group if it has less than like 100 000 members. 2.600 is nothing on fb where everyone just joins without even reading what it says in the title
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24 insignificant specks on the map that nobody can name.
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On April 22 2009 07:34 deathgod6 wrote:
That's pretty sad that the "American" people only know him for Rush Hour. Seriously? -_-
Well the rush hour films where his big american made movies. it's his most popular work in american although i perfer the police story movies.
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EPT
