International Law

When Celebrities Attack: Why It?s Always Best to Ignore Their ?Political? Statements

By Stan

I pretty much always ignore celebrities when they start talking politics. They usually say something stupid and uninformed, and they get a lot more attention from the press when doing it. Richard Gere anyone?

So it probably goes without saying that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to listen to Jackie Chan on political philosophy, but as this is big news, check out the details from AFP:

Hong Kong movie legend Jackie Chan has told a Chinese audience that too much political freedom can lead to chaos “like in Taiwan,” according to a newspaper report.

Chan, best-known for his martial-arts comedies, told an annual meeting of governments and business leaders that China should be wary of allowing too many freedoms, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

“I don’t know whether it is better to have freedom or to have no freedom,” he said at the Boao Forum for Asia.

“With too much freedom … it can get very chaotic, could end up like in Taiwan.”

The star of the Hollywood blockbuster franchise “Rush Hour” got into trouble in 2004 when he described the Taiwanese presidential elections as the “biggest joke in the world.”

Chan also told the forum he would not buy a television made in China because he was afraid it might explode. Instead, he said, he would buy one from Japan.

The 55-year-old’s latest film, “Shinjuku Incident”, has been banned in China for being too violent, but Chan shied away from criticising Beijing.

“If you want to make a film in China, you have to follow our rules,” he told the forum, according to the report.

I wish people would stop analyzing this — I’ve seen several blog posts already today about the subject, some of which actually discuss the merits.

There are no merits, this is all about money. Chan is a businessman who needs to get government approval to have his films shown here (the last one was banned for being too violent).

This is not an example of an actor being political, it is an example of a businessman kissing government ass (or ?(?????)??, if you prefer).

As to the comment about Chinese-made televisions exploding, I’m not too sure what to make of that. What do you expect from a 55-year-old guy named “Jackie” anyway?

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us

Full post as published by China Hearsay on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).