MONSTER HUNTER Has Been Pulled From Theatres In China Amid Accusations Of Racism

MONSTER HUNTER Has Been Pulled From Theatres In China Amid Accusations Of Racism

The Monster Hunter movie was released in China yesterday, but has already been pulled from theatres amid controversy stemming from an exchange between two characters which has been deemed to be racist...

By MarkCassidy - Dec 05, 2020 09:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Video Games

Monster Hunter was released in China on Friday, but the film has already stirred up controversy for featuring a scene which has been deemed to be racist and "insulting" to Chinese people.

The Paul W.S. Anderson video game adaptation reportedly includes a 10-second exchange between Asian American actor/rapper Jin Au-Yeung, aka MC Jin, and an unnamed white male actor, in which the former makes a tasteless joke with inferred racist connotations.

"In the scene, a white male character and an Asian character played by Jin are driving together at high speed," writes Variety. “'What'?” says the former. “'Look at my knees'!” shouts Jin. “'What kind of knees are these'?” asks his companion. “'Chi-nese'!” jokes Jin, punning on the word’s last syllable."

An example of Anderson's typically dreadful dialogue? Most definitely. Racist? Well, the backlash mostly appears to have stemmed from the "joke" being interpreted as a reference to racist schoolyard rhyme, “Chi-nese, Jap-a-nese, dir-ty knees, look at these,” which is usually accompanied by knee slaps and slant-eyed gestures.

Cinemas around the country have now pulled the movie from their line-ups. A quarter of all film screenings in China were said to be allotted to Monster Hunter on Friday, but by Saturday that had fallen to only 0.7%. A new version of the movie without the scene in question is reportedly being worked on, but it's unclear if the censored cut will be re-released.

What do you guys make of this? Is the outrage warranted, or an overreaction? Drop us a comment down below.

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Magus
Magus - 12/5/2020, 9:43 AM
Facepalm
KingLeonidas
KingLeonidas - 12/5/2020, 9:48 AM
@Magus - That's an awful joke. Who wrote it?
KingLeonidas
KingLeonidas - 12/5/2020, 9:49 AM
@KingLeonidas - And clearly they could have cut those 10 seconds as it is just throwaway nonsense and not important to the plot.

And now they have lost $50 mil over this stupid joke.
tmp3
tmp3 - 12/5/2020, 9:49 AM
@KingLeonidas - "And now they have lost $50 mil over this stupid joke."
That's pretty based, ngl
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 12/5/2020, 9:50 AM
@KingLeonidas - A 6 year old on a playground in 1987. 😝
heyy1
heyy1 - 12/5/2020, 10:08 AM
@Magus - the joke is so silly it is rediculous to take the movie off for it.
CaptainMexico
CaptainMexico - 12/5/2020, 10:11 AM
@KingLeonidas - come on, that joke is a classic
Humperdink
Humperdink - 12/5/2020, 10:38 AM
@Magus -

China: That silly joke is racism. Shut it down.

Also China:
Matador
Matador - 12/5/2020, 11:17 AM
@KingLeonidas - [frick] it I laughed at it but that must be because

AnimatedTdot
AnimatedTdot - 12/5/2020, 4:37 PM
@Humperdink - right...lol...hypocrites.
heisei24
heisei24 - 12/5/2020, 6:24 PM
@Humperdink - China is hypocrite, what else is new
At this point, everyone should've know that China is a terrible market and they shouldn't even bother doing any business with them.
Origame
Origame - 12/6/2020, 3:03 AM
@KingLeonidas - look, while i agree the joke is really bad, this joke alone is hardly a reason for the movie to be pulled from theaters. This is the same country that can't watch a movie with a Tibetan character in it and has concentration camps in 2020 and yet they're gonna tell us about whats supposed to be racist?
Origame
Origame - 12/6/2020, 3:05 AM
@heisei24 - sadly its actually a great market. Arguably the best market outside of the united states and enough of a great market that changes to movies are being made just for that market. Thats the problem.
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 12/5/2020, 9:43 AM
I think it’s rich that China would be all up in arms over racism when they’re literally holding Uigher Muslims in Labor camps.
Kumkani
Kumkani - 12/5/2020, 9:45 AM
@Oberlin4Prez - That would assume that they care about the Uyghurs Muslims
tmp3
tmp3 - 12/5/2020, 9:45 AM
"What types of knees are these?"
(pause)
"Chinese"
Kumkani
Kumkani - 12/5/2020, 9:47 AM
You know they were banking on China eating this up
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 12/5/2020, 9:48 AM
What do you even say...
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 12/5/2020, 9:48 AM
A little hypocritical, China.

With that said, that dialogue is pure vomit. I can and will only imagine what the rest of the script is like.
Origame
Origame - 12/6/2020, 3:24 AM
@THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - exactly. Its really bad, but hardly worthy of getting offended by (its literally just pointing out how chinese has a syllable that sounds like knees, how is that racist by any definition)
GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/5/2020, 9:48 AM
No surprises
Shroombeast
Shroombeast - 12/5/2020, 9:50 AM
Anderson is such an idiot.
Blergh
Blergh - 12/5/2020, 10:23 AM
@Shroombeast - It's a stupid as hell joke but not racist in any shape or form. This is china being super bitchy.
Blergh
Blergh - 12/5/2020, 10:48 AM
@Elric - dude, do you seriously think Anderson knows the backstory to this joke?
Isn't it more likely that he throught that chinese rhymes with knees?

Not saying Anderson isn't racist but c'mon this is a classic idiot move.
WakandaTech
WakandaTech - 12/5/2020, 9:51 AM
lol

The most racist country on earth

‘Muslims in concentrations camps‘

‘Foreign Blacks treated worse then second class citizens




Tasmaniac
Tasmaniac - 12/5/2020, 11:28 PM
@WakandaTech - Not to mention the Chinese Foreign Ministry tweeted a photoshopped picture of a smiling Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat last week and refuses to apologise for it. [frick] you China, you hypocritical pricks 🖕🏻
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