Donnie Yen responds to Oscars removal petition
John Wick: Chapter 4 actor Donnie Yen has responded to a petition that attempted to block his participation in the 95th Academy Award ceremony.
Prior to the award show, a petition was set up by activist Tong Wai-hung which claimed that Yen’s involvement in the ceremony “shows contempt for the people of Hong Kong” and that his presence will “damage the image and reputation of the film industry.”
Even though the petition acquired approximately 100,000 signatures by the time the ceremony aired, the Hong Kong actor still presented the award for Best Original Song at the 2023 Oscars on March 12th.
“I’m allowed to love my own culture. Love my own country,” Yen told Variety. “Why cannot I be patriotic? This whole online cyber-bullying/cancel culture has got to stop.”
“You can’t own somebody’s thoughts,” the actor added. “And you want to silence them? It’s totally hypocrites.”
Yen had previously faced criticism for his support of the Hong Kong government surpressing the 2019 pro-democracy protests in the country. “It wasn’t a protest, ok, it was a riot,” the actor told GQ in 2019. “I’m not going to be here talking about how to change how people feel about it. But my own experience, like, I was there, I have many friends who were there.”
“I don’t want to get political. A lot of people might not be happy for what I’m saying, but I’m speaking from my own experience.”
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