I’ve always liked actor Jackie Chan. His acrobatics in films are simply amazing. He seemed like a nice enough guy. But then like so many entertainers, he opened his mouth.
From the Washington Post:
Americans know Jackie Chan best for his cheery, acrobatic performances in action movies such as “Rumble in the Bronx” and “Rush Hour,” made successful by his amazing martial artistry and self-effacing comedy. Chinese know Chan, a Hong Kong native, for largely the same reasons. But they also know him for something most Americans might find surprising: He is passionately political, a staunch defender of the Chinese Communist Party and harsh critic of anyone he sees as opposing Beijing. Today, that includes the United States.
Chan, responding to widespread criticism of China’s recent censorship of a popular news..., insisted in a Chinese TV interview that the United States is “the most corrupt country in the world.” He scolded Chinese who criticize their country in a way that foreigners can hear or see, adding that he’s careful to only praise China when giving interviews in the U.S.
Here are his comments, translated into English by Ministry of Tofu, which also has the video. It’s worth watching to see how animated he becomes when criticizing the U.S. and defending China. I don’t speak Chinese, unfortunately, but if you’re like me then you can follow him a little by listening for the word “Meiguo,” which means America. (Fun fact: It translates literally to “beautiful country.”)
Jackie Chan: The New China. The real success has been made in the past dozen of years. Our country’s president also admits they have the corruption problem, and some other stuff, but we are making progress. What I can see is our country is continuously making progress and learning. If you talk about corruption, the entire world, the United State, has no corruption?
Host: America.
Chan: The most corrupt in the world.
Host: Really?
Chan: Of course. Where does this Great Breakdown [financial crisis] come from? It started exactly from the world, the United States. When I was interviewed in the U.S., people asked me, I said the same thing. I said now that China has become strong, everyone is making an issue of China. If our own countrymen don’t support our country, who will support our country? We know our country has many problems. We [can] talk about it when the door is closed. To outsiders, [we should say] “our country is the best.”
Host: So he can’t get enough of his more than 20 ambassador titles. I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should ask him to be the ambassador to the United States.
Chan: Seriously, I am always like, when the door is closed, “Our country is like this and this. Who and who is not good.” But outside, “Our country is the best, like so and so, is the best.” You cannot say our country has problems [when you are outside], like “Yes, our country is bad.”
This interview is probably not so surprising to Chinese viewers. Chan has been stirring controversy for a few years now for criticizing Taiwan and Hong Kong as models of what can go wrong when you have “too much freedom.” He once said, in defending China’s censorship of his films, “Chinese people need to be controlled, otherwise they will do whatever they want.” So, in some ways, it was probably only a matter of time until he set his sights on the United States. Given that he called Taiwanese democracy “the biggest joke in the world,” it’s surprising his criticism of the U.S., which is commonly viewed as either Taipei’s sponsor or its puppet-master, wasn’t harsher.
America has made Jackie Chan a very rich man. If that is how he wants to be, fine. He will fit in very well in America hating Hollywood.
For those of us who are real Americans, we have a solution to this. We will not go see another Jackie Chan movie nor will we buy any product he endorses.
Let’s see how much he loves America when we quit sending him money.
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