The live-action ‘Mulan’ star just made her life really really complicated.
Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei is starring in Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, the 1998 animated film about a female warrior during China’s Han dynasty. She is now also catching heat for a political post on the microblogging site Weibo in which she sides with police instead of protesters objecting to an extradition bill that would send alleged criminals to China to stand trial.
Sharing a photo from the Communist Chinese paper People’s Daily that reads, “I support Hong Kong’s police, you can beat me up now” (as roughly translated, according to Newsweek), Yifei added, “What a shame for Hong Kong” and “I also support Hong Kong police…”
The protests have been a stormcloud over Hong Kong for the past two months. Since 1997, Hong Kong and China have co-existed as “one country, two systems,” and will remain so until 2047, per the colonial British deal. The bill would circumvent the Hong Kong legal system entirely by handing the accused over to another government whose judicial system is seen as as a political tool of the Communist regime. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has already apologized for proposing the bill, but demands for her resignation and an end to police brutality have kept the territory in chaos. According to CNBC, Chinese authorities called for an end to “deranged acts” by violent protesters, particularly against police officers.
Yifei’s statement did not go unnoticed on social media, and the #BoycottMulan hashtag is trending. What impact this will have on the release of the live action Mulan in 2020 is unknown, as it’s still some seven months away.
“Disney’s Mulan actress, Liu Yifei, supports police brutality and oppression in Hong Kong,” tweeted Twitter user @sdnorton. “Liu is a naturalized American citizen. it must be nice. meanwhile she pisses on people fighting for democracy. retweet please. HK doesn’t get enough support.”
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