NME reports that a racist joke in Monster Hunter has been cut from all version of the movie.
Over the weekend, China pulled the film from theatres due to a supposed racial slur in the movie.
The fantasy action film, which stars Milla Jovovich, Thai martial artist Tony Jaa, and MC Jin, is loosely based on the popular RPG video game series of the same name by Japan’s Capcom.
In the controversial scene, a white male character and an Asian character played by MC Jin are driving together at high speed. “Look at my knees!” shouts MC Jin. “What kind of knees are these?” asks the white character. “Chi-knees!”MC Jin responds, emphasising the word’s last syllable.
MC Jin then took to Instagram to defend the scene, claiming that the line was intended to showcase the character’s ethnicity.
Now, all versions of the film will not feature the controversial line. The film’s director Paul W.S. Anderson apologised for the “unintentional offence”.
“I am absolutely devastated that a line from our movie, Monster Hunter, has offended some audience members in China. I apologise for any anxiety or upset that this line and its interpretation caused,” Anderson said.
“Monster Hunter was made as fun entertainment and I am mortified that anything within it has caused unintentional offense. We have respectfully removed the line from the movie. It was never our intention to send a message of discrimination or disrespect to anyone. To the contrary – at its heart our movie is about unity.”
Production House Constantin Film have stated that there was “absolutely no intent to discriminate, insult or otherwise offend anyone of Chinese heritage”.
Monster Hunter will be released in US cinemas on 18 December.
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