Jackie Chan – friend or foe? or dumbass?

Saturday, April 25th, 2009 | posts

Last weekend, movie star Jackie Chan said something really stupid.

“I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled,” he said. “If we are not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”

Chan made the dumbass comments during the Boao Forum, an annual economic conference held on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The meeting is a non-governmental, not-for-profit international organization modelled after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

His comments raised hell across the Chinese diaspora. Chan managed to offend Chinese people in at least 3 places: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even mainland China.

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, newspapers and politicians blasted the kung fu action star calling him “idiotic” and “ignorant.” One HK legislator said Chan was “racist, adding “People around the world are running their own countries. Why can’t Chinese do the same?”

He may also start losing large endorsements contracts. The mayor of Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, dropped Chan as an ambassador for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics – World Games for the Deaf (I had no idea what this was, had to google this!) And remember those cardboard cutouts of Jackie flashing the peace sign for The Hong Kong Tourism Board? Perhaps they will be no more… According to the NYTimes, the board said it will “reconsider his role as its most high-profile spokesman.”

On Facebook, nearly 11,000 people have joined a group calling for Chan to be shipped to North Korea, famous “for being the least free country in the world, as he “aspires” to be chained and to live in a place lack of freedom!” …according to the group’s description.

And even in mainland China, The People’s Daily (the Chinese government’s propaganda machine) didn’t think Chan’s comments were cool: “I guess Jackie Chan has never experienced the lack of freedom, and has not been cruelly controlled,” said one editorial.

That seems to be the theory a lot of people are going on. That Chan, having lived most of his life in easy breezy Hong Kong, has no idea what it’s like to be lose one’s freedoms. Over the years, Jackie has definitely played suck up to the Chinese government, attending, participating and endorsing official events and celebrations. It’s been a smart move to increase his stardom – in a country of more than 1 billion people, well that’s 1 billion potential fans. No “star” wants to be boycotted by the Chinese.

So what do y’all think? Was Jackie just speaking his mind? Were they calculated comments, with a political nature? Or was he simply speaking off the cuff? Were his words possibly taken out of context? Is he a spoiled HK movie star who doesn’t know how hard people fight, in China, for basic human rights like freedom of speech and assembly? Or, is he just being a dumbass?

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5 Comments to Jackie Chan – friend or foe? or dumbass?

KT
April 25, 2009

I think it was a really stupid move, to be honest. He offended me. And I’m not Chinese! It seemed like he was saying the Chinese weren’t smart enough to make their own decisions. Which I find totally offensive. That being said, were the comments made in Chinese? Or English?

admin
April 25, 2009

Some comments sent to me on Facebook…

From Selene: see, this is exactly why you need to be controlled! :P

From Olivia: haha “ignorant”? nice way to say he’s just dumb :P

From Shan: He’s an action movie player, not a talk-show champion. I am not even sure if his speech was made in English or Chinese; language differences increase gaps in interpretation though. Probably while speeking in public, he should have thought of designing his language into a diplomatic way, but I don’t think for those benefited from his charity fund or donations, they will be in the position of calling him a dumbass.

From Patrick: dumbass. or clown.

admin
April 25, 2009

@Shan – I think Jackie Chan is much more than an action movie star, at least, he has taken on a far bigger role as a spokes person and a sort of ambassador of the Chinese in the West. So, as a public figure and I guess role model, while he isn’t a politician, he is super responsible for what he says and does… — what do you think?

Wendy
April 25, 2009

Hey Suzanne, thanks for posting this. I wasn’t aware of this piece of news at all! So I youtubed his response to reporters where he said all that crap. My impression is that he is, well, just ignorant. Later on, he said he wouldn’t buy Chinese made tv’s because they’ll explode and used the tainted milk scandal to support his point that quality of Chinese products are poor. I’m thinking that when he said Chinese needs to be “controlled” it is about regulations. How he phrased it at the conference was definitely poorly worded. So in response to your last question, I think he was “speaking off the cuff” which showed his “spoiled”-ness and ignorance on why what he perceives as “chaos” came about in the first place.

Marc Kuo
April 26, 2009

What a huge media blow-up! I guess it is a good feed to start a discussion world wide, or even better, on this blog.. who knows, maybe it was his intention to provocate. This put aside, leave poor Mr. Niceguy alone!

Okay, he said something politically incorrect, so what? What about the million wonderful things he did? Being a role model for so many, magnifying a mini-mistake and making a foe out of him, the media just scattered the dreams of a billion kids. I bet 95% of a billion kids (me being one of the 950.000.000) didn’t even know he said this; that is until the media (read government) started their attack. And I bet 95% of the other 5% kids that did hear it, probably didn’t know that Jackie said something wacky. He has an opinion, so what?

Jackie Chan – friend

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