When 20,000 people turned up to watch Jackie Chan buy new shoes: “They had to get the police special forces”
Thanks to modernity’s unstoppable advance, the tedious practice of going into a shoe shop and eying a potential purchase has been replaced by the convenience of ordering shoes online. It’s definitely the resolution of a first-world problem, but nobody will be happier about it than Jackie Chan.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s that the martial artist, daredevil, and actor became an international superstar when Rush Hour brought his unique combination of slapstick and precision-engineered fight choreography to the masses, but he’d been one of the most famous celebrities in China for decades by that point.
He’s been a staple of the public eye in various capacities, whether as an actor, director, producer, personality, singer, spokesman, or cultural figurehead. His fame tends to create a certain level of fervour that made it virtually impossible for Chan to hit the town, pound the pavement, and take part in everyday activities.
Chan used to enjoy travelling the world to visit places like the United States and the United Kingdom, where he wasn’t quite as well-known as he was on home soil, but that also changed when he became a Hollywood staple. Still, he preferred being in London to parading around his local haunts, especially when his mere presence was enough to whip a massive crowd into a frenzy.
“It’s better in Britain than in China,” he admitted to The Guardian of being able to go out and about without being accosted. Or, in one case, having law enforcement drafted in to prevent a mob from overwhelming his entourage. “I tried to go shoe shopping in China, and the shop was surrounded by something like 20,000 people. They had to get the police special forces to create a cordon for me to run out through.”
Overzealous fans and paparazzi are an unfortunate byproduct of being a household name, but tens of thousands flocking to a shoe shop because Chan was on the hunt for a fresh pair of footwear is ridiculous. It could have ruined his reputation in an instant if he were captured on camera purchasing a set of Crocs, but that was probably the least of his concerns when he felt like there was no other option but to call in the cops so that he could sneak out of a back door unscathed.
That’s a level of adulation that most people never reach, and plenty of them wouldn’t be thrilled if they did. For Chan, it was something he’d grown accustomed to whether he wanted to or not, but 20,000 folks descending on his location and creating a heaving mass of humanity all because he needed some new shoes is taking celebrity worship several steps too far.
