A larger number of Chinese celebrities expressed support on Thursday for a nationalistic backlash against foreign-owned consumer goods brands that have expressed concern over the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang Province.
At least 40 Chinese stars canceled high-profile, lucrative sponsorship contracts.Among them were Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee, the stars of the best foreign picture Oscar nominee “Better Days,” “Mulan” star Liu Yifei, and the actor Song Dandan, the stepmother of “Nomadland” director, the Chinese-born Academy Award frontrunner Chloe Zhao.The controversy has plunged China’s entertainment industry squarely into the firestorm over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Beijing denies there is abuse, but U.S.
officials and leading figures in other democracies have recently described activities in Xinjiang as a “genocide.”The furor highlights the real and escalating difficulties that companies and artists must face when attempting to straddle the divide between the political requirements of
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