As Kotaku recently reported, a racist line of dialogue led to thousands of negative online reviews in China and calls to ban the film. The movie’s producers have now apologised.
In the film, a soldier yells to another soldier: “What are my knees? What kind of knees are these? Chi-knees.” Twitter user Daniel Ahmad pointed out that the line was associated with an offensive rhyme. The English dialogue and the subtitles, however, do not match.
Chinese theatres started pulling the movie a day after it hit theatres.
Deadline reports that the movie’s production company Constantin Film has “sincerely apologises to Chinese audiences,” adding:
There was absolutely no intent to discriminate, insult or otherwise offend anyone of Chinese heritage. Constantin Film has listened to the concerns expressed by Chinese audiences and removed the line that has led to this inadvertent misunderstanding.
Capcom also issued a Chinese-language statement, distancing themselves from the movie.
Tencent is distributing the film in China, and according to Deadline, the company is apparently working with the Chinese government to rectify the situation. As of writing, it’s unclear if the theatres that pulled the movie will resume showing it and if this line of dialogue will be cut in other regions.
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