As Kotaku recently reported, a racist line of dialogue in the Monster Hunter movie led to thousands of negative online reviews in China, review bombing of the game on Steam, and calls to ban the film. The movie’s producers have now apologized.
In the film, a soldier yells to another soldier: “What are my knees? What kind of knees are these? Chi-knees.” Twitter user Daniel Ahmad pointed out that the line was associated with an offensive rhyme. The English dialogue and the subtitles, however, do not match.
Chinese theaters started pulling the movie a day after it was released.
Deadline reports that the movie’s production company, Constantin Film, “sincerely apologizes to Chinese audiences,” adding:
There was absolutely no intent to discriminate, insult or otherwise offend anyone of Chinese heritage. Constantin Film has listened to the concerns expressed by Chinese audiences and removed the line that has led to this inadvertent misunderstanding.
Capcom also issued a Chinese-language statement, distancing themselves from the movie.
Tencent is distributing the film in China, and according to Deadline, the company is apparently working with the Chinese government to rectify the situation. As of writing, it’s unclear if the theaters that pulled the movie will resume showing it and if this line of dialogue will be cut in other regions.