‘Monster Hunter’ Movie Removed From China Due To Racist Joke

The upcoming live-action adaptation of Monster Hunter has already played in theaters in China, but it seems like audiences aren’t reacting too well to the movie. A lot of the anger from Chinese audiences is towards a certain joke that occurs in the film.

During  a scene where two soldiers are talking to one another, one of the soldiers asks the other, “What are my knees?” To which his comrade follows-up by saying, “Chi-knees.” The line appears to indirectly reference a racist chant that goes, “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these.”

Chinese audiences were offended by the joke and took to social media to vent out their frustrations on Chinese websites.  According to Variety, cinema’s were receiving requests to cancel further screenings of the film. The website also reports that while a version of Monster Hunter was to be re-released without the joke, those seem to have been canceled. Over the weekend, the most recent Monster Hunter game, Monster Hunter World, was reviewed a “bomb” on Steam by Chinese users who aired their grievances with the movie.

Capcom has issued a statement, which game analyst Dan Ahmad translated. Capcom said that they are aware of the situation and the controversy, but that “it is not the producer on the MH movie and that it will report the situation to the relevant film companies to investigate.”

Monster Hunter will arrive in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day.