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Jo Malone apologises to John Boyega for cutting him out of Chinese ad
Perfume brand Jo Malone has apologised to the actor John Boyega for cutting him out of an advert he conceived, directed and starred in when it was launched in China.
Boyega was replaced by Liu Haoran after the commercial was recast and reshot for the Chinese market. The original advert, London Gent, which was released last year, featured Boyega walking around Peckham, south London, riding a horse, dancing with friends and hanging out with his family. The original cast was multicultural, while the Chinese remake featured no black cast members.
“We deeply apologise for what on our end was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign,” Jo Malone said in the statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
“John is a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction. The concept for the film was based on John’s personal experiences and should not have been replicated.”
The company added that while it “immediately took action” and removed the local version of the campaign, “we recognise that this was painful and that offence was caused. We respect John, and support our partners and fans globally. We are taking this misstep very seriously and we are working together as a brand to do better moving forward.”
“There’s a mixture of things you see me do in that film, you see me in a professional environment on a film set, then with family and it’s about breaking free of the concept of ‘going back or returning to your roots’, but more about the roots existing with this new side of my life.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Boyega was not made aware of the recasting of the ad and only found out about it on Twitter.
Tianwei Zhang, of Women’s Wear Daily, believes the recasting of Boyega was not racially motivated but purely a marketing decision.
These are the original and result versions side by side
Perfume brand Jo Malone has apologised to the actor John Boyega for cutting him out of an advert he conceived, directed and starred in when it was launched in China.
Boyega was replaced by Liu Haoran after the commercial was recast and reshot for the Chinese market. The original advert, London Gent, which was released last year, featured Boyega walking around Peckham, south London, riding a horse, dancing with friends and hanging out with his family. The original cast was multicultural, while the Chinese remake featured no black cast members.
“We deeply apologise for what on our end was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign,” Jo Malone said in the statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
“John is a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction. The concept for the film was based on John’s personal experiences and should not have been replicated.”
The company added that while it “immediately took action” and removed the local version of the campaign, “we recognise that this was painful and that offence was caused. We respect John, and support our partners and fans globally. We are taking this misstep very seriously and we are working together as a brand to do better moving forward.”
“There’s a mixture of things you see me do in that film, you see me in a professional environment on a film set, then with family and it’s about breaking free of the concept of ‘going back or returning to your roots’, but more about the roots existing with this new side of my life.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Boyega was not made aware of the recasting of the ad and only found out about it on Twitter.
Tianwei Zhang, of Women’s Wear Daily, believes the recasting of Boyega was not racially motivated but purely a marketing decision.
These are the original and result versions side by side
