Image Credit: Warner Bros. 
Film studio Warner Bros. is accused of appeasing Chinese censors after a black actress was allegedly removed from a movie poster for the sci-fi epic Dune.
Advertisements for the film plastered throughout the communist nation reportedly omit black British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster, who plays Dr. Liet Kynes in the latest film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 classic.
So far, only British news outlets are reporting on the phenomenon:
The omission is noticeable in a side-by-side comparison of UK and US posters, where Duncan-Brewster appears alongside other supporting cast, contrasted with the Chinese advertisement, where she’s the only one missing.
“Not only is Duncan-Brewster not in the poster,” reports BoundingIntoComics, “but she is replaced by actor Chen Chang who plays Dr. Wellington Yueh. Dr. Yueh is not portrayed in the poster for North American audiences.”
Another version of the poster for Chinese and Georgian audiences reportedly does feature Duncan-Brewster, according to CineMaterial.
On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued tweets condemning the censorship, claiming the studios were satisfying China’s “racist” demands.
“It’s bad enough that American corporations have censored books, news sites, social media platforms, and even the Bible and the Quran to accommodate China, the removal of @MissEssDeeBee’s image from the ‘#Dune’ poster in #China creates the impression that an American company is now censoring the very appearance of a Black woman to satisfy its own racist misconceptions about audiences in China,” the organization tweeted.
“The removal of @MissEssDeeBee‘s image from the ‘#Dune’ poster in #China creates the impression that an American company is now censoring the very appearance of a Black woman to satisfy its own racist misconceptions about audiences in China…#BlackLivesMatter
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) October 26, 2021
“As they say, ‘fear is the mind-killer,’” the organization added, quoting the movie.
As noted by the Daily Mail, the censorship is reminiscent of similar omissions made in 2015 when black actor John Boyega was featured less prominently on Chinese posters.
Hollywood was also accused of bowing to Chinese censors with their 2019 Top Gun sequel, where patches worn by the film’s main character Maverick were swapped for more Chinese-friendly ones.
It’s unclear who’s behind the Dune poster edit.
The Mail says it hasn’t received comment from film companies Warner Bros. and Legendary East on the controversy.
Chinese state media reportedly responded that the claims were an elaborate “smear.”
It should be noted Duncan-Brewster’s character underwent a gender and race-swap and was originally a white man in Herbert’s novel.
Dune raked in $21 million amid its debut in China over the weekend, overshadowed by a Chinese war epic dubbed, “Battle at Lake Changjin,” which “glorifies Chinese sacrifices and heroism against U.S. forces during the Korean War,” reports the Hollywood Reporter.
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