Oscars 2023: Thousands sign petition to remove Donnie Yen from presenting
Thousands have signed an online petition calling for actor Donnie Yen to be removed as a presenter at this year’s edition of the Oscars due to his alleged support of the Chinese government and their crackdown on protestors in Hong Kong.
Yen first rose to prominence in the popular Ip Man series of films, which has since been credited with popularising Wing Chun, a form of Southern Chinese Kung Fu, both in the country and worldwide. Since then, the actor has starred in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, XXX: Return Of Xander Cage and 2020’s remake of Mulan. His most recent film is John Wick: Chapter 4, in which he stars alongside Keanu Reeves. Its release date is March 24th.
With the 95th Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles this Sunday (March 12th), the petition doesn’t have long left. Per the BBC, the petition was set up by the Hong Kong activist Tong Wai-Hung, who claims that Yen speaking at the Oscars “shows contempt for the people of Hong Kong” and that his presence will “damage the image and reputation of the film industry”.
When speaking to GQ in February, Yen maintained his opposition to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, criticising the 2019 protests.”It wasn’t a protest, okay, it was a riot,” Yen said. “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.”
He continued: “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.” The petition labels Yen’s criticises Yen’s comments for “violating the spirit of freedom of speech” and “denying the rights of the people of Hong Kong to fight for their freedom”.
Currently, the petition has over 95,000 signatures.
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