So this is totally not the fault of the actors but on the writer and production team for keeping this concept in the movie. The just premiered C-movie Formed Police Unit starring Johnny Huang and Wang Yi Bo has already generated controversy as moviegoers who watched the film have screenshotted and circulated a scene of the leads in blackface and dreads set in Africa during their peacekeeping mission. The context is that they need to blend in and go incognito and OMG how does blackface and dreads while still looking very much like a cosplaying Chinese person fool any African person. It’s so offensive but at least not cancellable the way it would have been in the US as blackface in American history has an entirely broader and more egregious racist context. This is still racist and dumbass but I’ll leave it up to the domestic Chinese audiences who this movie is geared towards to decide whether this is acceptable as just a concept within the movie storytelling. For now there is apparently a big online battle being waged by Yibo’s strong fandom to bury the story and water army over any criticism.
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