Simu Liu, star of Marvel's
new blockbuster "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," has enjoyed positive reviews around the world since the movie's release, barring one notable exception: his birthplace. In China, where he was born before moving to Canada as a child, he's coming under fire for a 2017 interview in which he allegedly described the country his parents left in less than flattering terms. The video, originally published by the Canadian public broadcaster CBC, is no longer available on its website.
The comments resurfaced this week on the Chinese social media platform Weibo -- and the backlash was swift.
"Is this the superiority of 'high-class' Chinese?" one comment read -- a sarcastic term referring to Chinese people who leave the country to study or live abroad, similar in meaning to "whitewashed." Other Weibo users threatened to report or boycott the movie if it was released in China.
