Take pictures of comfort women, go to the "Nazi" forbidden zone... What will be the result of Zhang Zhehan's "foreign countries"?

Source: Global Times

[Global Times special correspondent Kim Hye-jin Luk] Artist Zhang Zhehan's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan and other improper behaviors have recently aroused strong criticism from all walks of life. On the 15th, his personal and studio Weibo accounts were shut down, and the China Performance Industry Association also asked member units to boycott their practice, after several brands had also terminated their contracts with Zhang Zhehan. There is an insurmountable bottom line in the performing arts circles of various countries, and if Zhang Zhehan's misconduct occurs abroad, it will be difficult to escape the fate of being criticized and resisted.

Comfort women photo infuriated Korean society

In the Korean performing arts industry and even the whole society, anti-Japanese and anti-Japanese resistance are regarded as "political red lines", and any artist who ignores it has to pay a tragic price, the most typical example is the third runner-up of "Miss Korea" and the actor Lee Cheng Juan. In 2004, Lee Joong-joo, who was at the same time as top actresses such as Lee Young-ae and Kim Hee-sun, published a nude photo album about "comfort women", in which Lee Chun-juan wore a revealing hanbok and played a comfort woman abducted by the Japanese army, and the background of the photo was a large number of rising sun flags and Japanese soldiers. Not only that, Li Chengjuan's brokerage company said that the photo album will also be released in Japan and need to be purchased for a fee.

Nude writing Allah the theme of "comfort women", which caused the South Korean people to be indignant. South Korean comfort women victims publicly demanded that Lee Ande-juan and his brokerage company immediately cancel the release of photo albums, and many civic groups also shelled Lee for "peddling comfort women-themed portraits that sting national feelings for commercial benefits." Afterwards, Lee apologized to the South Korean comfort women victims and promised to burn the original film of the photo album and cancel the release, but this was not enough to calm public opinion. Since then, the image of Li Chengjuan, who was once a top actress, has plummeted, her career has fallen to the bottom, and she has almost been expelled from the show business circle. Two years later, although Li Chengjuan made a comeback through TV dramas and appeared on the screen from time to time, both popularity and influence were much worse than before, and now he has become a marginal figure in the show business circle.

In 2019, due to Japan's implementation of the "card neck" policy on the Korean semiconductor industry, during the "boycott of Japan" campaign launched by the whole society in South Korea, South Korean actor Lee Shiyan (a regular guest of the Korean variety show "My Life Alone") posted a photo of traveling to Japan on social media, which was bombarded by public opinion, and under pressure, Lee Shiyan finally deleted the photo.

Europe and the United States "Nazi Hitler is a forbidden area"

European and American showbiz also have untouchable "high-voltage lines" - the atrocities of the German Nazis in World War II. Anyone who dares to deny the history of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism will be boycotted or banned by the entire industry. As a result, almost no one dared to publicly express pro-Nazi remarks, even if only to borrow Nazis as an allusion and metaphor, which would immediately trigger protests.

Former Hollywood A-list actor Mel Gibson, after a 2006 drunken drag race, made an anti-Semitic remark: "Damn Jews, they are responsible for all wars!" After this matter was reported by the media, Gibson, who was at the peak of his career, was almost banned by all studios, and it was more than a decade later that he turned around with "Hacksaw Ridge".

Danish director Ras von Trier spoke a lot about Jews and Nazis at a press conference during his 2011 cannes film festival: "I think I know Hitler and even have a little sympathy for him. I'm not against the Jews, but Israel really hates it. Well, I'm a Nazi. Although von Trier apologized that night, the Cannes organising committee announced his expulsion and did not allow him to participate in the subsequent judging and award ceremony.

Afterwards, von Trier also admitted that he was indeed stupid, "this (Nazis, Hitler) is a forbidden area, and it cannot be discussed casually." In addition to the German Nazis, neo-Nazis are also a "pit" that celebrities often step on: Australian star chef Pete Evans was boycotted last year for posting pictures with neo-Nazi symbols on social media, and then his show was canceled, his books were taken down, and he suffered heavy losses.

There are many sensitive topics on social media

However, some of the blocking moves are themselves controversial. Actress Gina Carano, who starred in Disney's "The Mandalorian," argued on social media that the current state of political opinion in the United States is similar to the Nazi treatment of Jews in those days, "Jews are not beaten by Nazi soldiers in the street, but bullied by neighbors." The Nazis imprisoned large numbers of Jews so easily because the authorities first made their neighbors hate them, which is different from the current situation in the United States that hates each other because of different political views? Disney then fired Carano, which made her very unconvinced, believing that this was Disney's "double standard" for female actors.

In addition to Nazi rhetoric, in this era of social media prevalence, there are various sensitive topics such as racism, sexism, and paedophilia, and some celebrity celebrities who do not choose to speak will also fall into a crisis of public opinion. James Gunn, the director of the Marvel series "Guardians of the Galaxy," was disqualified by Disney for his holocaust, sexual assault and pedophilia remarks on social media before he became famous, and Gunn was disqualified from disney.

American comedian Rosiana Barr likened Valerie Garrett, an African-American adviser to the Obama administration, to "monkeys" on social media, a racist remark that led ABC to immediately suspend all of its shows, and media groups such as Disney Viacom canceled their company's partnership with Barr.