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Credit: StarWars.comDonnie Yen is one of the biggest action stars in the world, having been in many martial arts movies, including a starring role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Yen portrayed the blind Force faithful, Chirrut Imwe, which turned him into Star Wars royalty.
However, some horrible images of Donnie Yen engaging in blackface have now emerged again, which could spell trouble for the actor in the coming weeks. Yen was meant to be a presenter at the 95th Academy Awards, which takes place on March 12. Still, a petition is now to remove the actor from the ceremony entirely.
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The petition has nearly reached its goal of 50,000 signatures, which is quite a lot and could land Donnie Yen in further trouble from these images popping up again online.
Donnie Yen also drew the ire of many people when he supported the Hong Kong Police Force, which has been heavily criticized for its brutal tactics and handling of peaceful protests in China.
To make matters worse, Donnie Yen has been in the hot seat for his controversial opinions about the protests in China, referring to protestors as “terrorists.”
This led to the #BoycottMulan movement on social media, as both Donnie Yen and co-star Liu Yifei were the subjects of ridicule.
The images in question come from a movie that Donnie Yen starred in 2012 called All’s Well, Ends Well.
There are two images where Yen seems to be in both “blackface” and “brownface.”
These controversial images had popped up before and were made known when Donnie Yen’s controversial statements about the peaceful protests in China began. There is no telling if the Academy Awards has caught wind of these allegations and if they plan to do anything about it.
The Academy Awards might have to step in and remove Donnie Yen from presenting, especially if this petition grows in number by the time the award show is meant to air.
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Kevin Hart was removed from being a host of the Academy Awards in 2019 when homophobic tweets resurfaced from the comedian. It would stand to reason that Yen is allowed to present, while images of him in blackface would seem hypocritical for the Academy.
Yen has yet to comment on these images resurfacing and what it could mean for him presenting at this year’s Academy Awards.
Do you think Donnie Yen should be removed from the Academy Awards? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!