novellhall Chapter 381 Blacklisted Across the Internet
Chapter 381 Blacklisted Across the Internet
Chapter 380 Blacklisted Across the Internet
Filming for "Joker" is in its final stages.
The late autumn in New York was already chilly.
The abandoned film sets in Brooklyn are always bustling with activity.
Filming for the core scenes of the stand-up comedy show has wrapped.
The rest are mostly large-scale group scenes depicting the Gotham City riots.
Hundreds of extras dressed in tattered clown costumes performed madness and chaos on the streets, making coordination extremely difficult. Often, a single scene would take more than ten hours to film, and the non-stop shooting intensity kept the entire crew on edge.
Chen Xun was no exception.
To maintain Arthur's later gaunt and manic state, he ate only a small amount of vegetables and chicken breast every day, and he visibly lost weight. His eye sockets became slightly sunken, and even after removing his makeup, there was still a lingering gloom in his eyes.
They would join the crew before dawn every day and film until late at night.
He even ate while holding the script and pondering the details, completely immersing himself in Arthur's world.
Jennifer stayed with him on set the whole time, and seeing him like this, she felt incredibly sorry for him.
She knew Chen Xun's personality; he never complained about being tired or overworked while filming, but his physical exhaustion was impossible to hide.
Not only Chen Xun, but also the crew members and hundreds of extras worked around the clock.
In late autumn, the temperature in New York has dropped below zero.
Many extras wore thin costumes and filmed for hours in the cold wind, without even getting a hot meal.
After finishing work that day, Jennifer secretly contacted the most famous mobile food truck brand in Los Angeles behind Chen Xun's back and ordered two top-of-the-line food trucks. She then flew from Los Angeles to New York overnight with her chef team.
Early the next morning.
As soon as the crew arrived at the set, they saw two exquisitely decorated food trucks parked at the entrance. The aroma of coffee, barbecue, and Chinese food filled the entire set.
A banner hung on the food truck that read, "Joker Crew's Exclusive Supply Station, Free and Unlimited Quantity."
The variety of food on the food trucks is astonishing.
On one side are American-style freshly grilled burgers, smoked barbecue, hot soup and coffee, with hot drinks and snacks available all day long.
On the other side was a Chinese food stall.
The freshly made tomato and beef brisket rice, xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), hot dry noodles, and even warming ginger tea are all Chen Xun's favorite flavors.
"Jennifer, this—this was all arranged by you?"
The production manager stared wide-eyed at the food truck.
Although the production team had a sufficient budget, meals for the extras and grassroots staff were always outsourced.
It's just average.
I've never seen such a high-end configuration before.
Jennifer leaned against the car: "Everyone has worked so hard. Filming this kind of movie is exhausting, so everyone needs to have something hot to eat. Whether it's the lead actors or the extras, everyone in the crew can get some. There's no limit, and there's plenty."
The news spread throughout the entire film set in an instant.
The extras, who had just finished filming a night scene and were cold and tired, rushed over when they heard the news, holding hot coffee and hamburgers, and they were all very excited.
On Hollywood film sets, extras are always paid the lowest wages.
Forget about free high-end food trucks; sometimes it's even hard to get a boxed meal on time.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Jennifer! I've been filming ensemble pieces for three years and I've never had such good food on set!"
A young Black man, holding a bowl of hot soup, bowed repeatedly to Jennifer.
The white girl next to her nodded in agreement: "They even have Chinese food! I've always wanted to try authentic Chinese food, and I never expected to get to eat it on set!"
Even Robert De Niro, holding a bowl of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), joked with Chen Xun, "You're so lucky to have someone as considerate as Jennifer by your side. We're all benefiting from it too."
Chen Xun felt incredibly warm inside as he watched Jennifer busily handing coffee to the staff.
He walked to her side, gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder: "Why didn't you tell me before making these arrangements?"
"If I told you, you'd probably try to stop me again."
Jennifer turned around, reached out to smooth his furrowed brow, her eyes filled with concern: "Look at you, how much weight have you lost in the past two weeks?"
"I arranged this for you. You're on set every day, and you don't even get a hot Chinese meal. If I don't feel sorry for you, who will?"
She paused, then added, "These extras have it tough too. They film riot scenes in the freezing cold wearing only thin clothes, sometimes all day long. Giving them something warm is a good deed, and it's better than some producers who take high salaries but don't treat lower-level actors like human beings."
Chen Xun smiled and pinched her cheek, then lowered his head and planted a kiss on her forehead.
The staff around them laughed and whistled when they saw this.
The tense atmosphere on set instantly relaxed considerably.
Filming proceeded as scheduled.
Jennifer's food truck never left; it followed the film crew wherever they went.
Jennifer leaves when she has work and flies back when she doesn't.
The actors in the crew were already used to it, and in fact, they grew to like Jennifer more and more.
After all, they eat food from the food truck every day.
Actors from other production crews were incredibly envious when they learned about their treatment.
Soon it will be the subway scene's turn.
According to the filming schedule for the day, Chen Xun only had one scene, a solo scene with Arthur in the subway, which was filmed in the morning.
Warner Bros. happened to have a post-production meeting for "Joker".
Jennifer accompanied him, and they left the film set at noon to fly to Manhattan.
The remaining scenes were reshot by director Todd and his production team, including scenes depicting the Gotham City riots and the subway, which required hundreds of extras.
No one expected that the production manager on set would do something so outrageous in order to meet the filming schedule.
To prevent extras from leaving midway through filming and delaying the shoot, the front and rear doors of the subway car were locked, and everyone was told, "No one is allowed to get off the train until this scene is finished."
This shooting lasted for more than two hours.
The train carriage was stuffy and cold, with hundreds of extras crammed into the small space, making it difficult to even turn around.
During the filming, many people asked to take a break or go to the restroom, but the on-site producer rudely refused.
They even scolded them, saying, "If you're getting paid, you should do your job properly and stop causing trouble."
In the end, several extras who couldn't hold it in any longer were forced to open the train door a crack and urinate onto the tracks.
This incident completely ignited everyone's anger.
The extras protested collectively inside the train carriage.
Filming was completely halted.
The angry extras immediately contacted the Screen Actors Guild, recounting everything that had happened on set, and even filmed it, which they then sent directly to the New York Post.
The incident was reported by the media the very next morning:
"Joker film set abuses extras! Actor locked in subway car for over 2 hours, toilets prohibited, forced to urinate on train tracks!"
The news immediately caused a sensation in the North American entertainment industry.
The Screen Actors Guild immediately announced its involvement in the investigation.
Hollywood industry insiders have also spoken out, condemning the crew's inhumane practices.
According to normal public opinion trends, the blame should have been placed on the on-site producer and the producers of "Joker".
However, things took a completely awful turn due to the manipulation of certain individuals.
It's unclear who started this on Twitter, but they've been directing their criticism at Chen Xun: "Chen Xun is the absolute male lead of this movie, and also a co-producer. How could he not know about what happened on set?"
"A person of Asian descent, on a Hollywood film set, abusing white and Black extras—what is that if not racial discrimination?"
"I knew it! Once Asians have established themselves in Hollywood, they'll turn around and discriminate against others! He doesn't treat lower-level actors like human beings at all!"
Even more maliciously, someone deliberately edited out previous behind-the-scenes footage.
They cut footage of Chen Xun watching the monitor on set into the video from the subway car.
-
"Chen Xun was present at the time, observing the whole thing coldly, and even scolded the extras for being troublesome!"
This fake video was widely shared on Twitter.
In just a few hours, the hashtag #ChenXunRacism# topped the global trending list.
Countless netizens, unaware of the truth, followed suit and hurl insults.
Some extreme individuals even started trending the topic.
#BoycottTheClown#
#BoycottChenXun#
They are calling for a boycott of "Joker" and all of Chen Xun's movies and endorsements.
There were already many people in Hollywood who envied Chen Xun, and now they all stepped in, anonymously feeding information to the media, adding fuel to the fire and smearing Chen Xun, throwing all the dirty water on him.
After all, a Chinese actor who has access to top-tier resources in Hollywood, has won a Golden Globe, and is about to compete for an Oscar has already taken a bite out of the pie for too many people.
Now that they have such a good opportunity to smear someone, they naturally won't let it go.
Warner Bros. meeting room in Manhattan.
Chen Xun had just finished his meeting when he received a call from Robert.
Robert sounded incredibly anxious on the phone, telling him everything that had happened online.
Chen Xun's first reaction upon hearing this was helplessness.
He left the film set at noon that day, unaware of the planned reshoots on the subway.
He wasn't involved in the whole thing from beginning to end, so how did he become a perpetrator of racial discrimination?
"I wasn't even there at the time, and I didn't even know about it."
Chen Xun leaned back in his chair in the conference room, rubbed his temples, and said with a tone full of exasperation, "They're throwing mud at us, don't they even bother to check the most basic timeline?"
"The current public opinion completely ignores the facts!"
Rob was frantic on the other end of the phone: "They only want to see what they want to see, they only want to accuse an Asian person of racism in Hollywood, this topic is too inflammatory!"
"Warner's PR department is in an uproar, and Dior has also contacted us to inquire about the situation. We must issue a statement immediately to clarify!"
But the more you try to explain yourself during these public opinion storms, the more people try to stir up trouble.
Only by presenting solid evidence can we silence public criticism.
Chen Xun was very knowledgeable about public opinion and naturally knew how to deal with it.
Hollywood once considered him the most skilled at marketing: he had the legal department liaise with the extras on set, obtain the day's shooting schedule, my departure records, and testimonies from all the staff present, proving that I left the set at noon that day and wasn't even there.
"Make Warner release an official statement immediately, clarify the ins and outs of the matter, take responsibility where he should, and deal with the people who should be dealt with. Don't try to shift the blame onto me."
"Release all the attendance records and meeting videos from the day I attended the meeting at Warner's headquarters in Manhattan. The evidence is irrefutable, let's see what they have to say then."
After hanging up with Rob, Jennifer, who was sitting next to him, was already pale with anger. She was scrolling through Twitter on her phone, cursing, "Fuck! These people are completely turning black into white! You weren't even there that day, how could they make up such a lie? And that fake video is absolutely shameless!"
She immediately opened her Twitter account and typed rapidly, posting a clarification tweet: "I was with Chen Xun the whole time. On the day of the shoot, we left the Brooklyn set together at noon and went to Warner Bros. headquarters in Manhattan for a meeting that didn't end until late at night. When the subway reshoot happened, Chen Xun wasn't even there. He didn't even know there was a reshoot scheduled for that day."
"What happened on set was infuriating. The responsibility lies with the production manager's mismanagement on set, not with Chen Xun. He is the most respectful person I have ever met to the staff and every actor. He and I arranged the free food truck for the crew so that all the staff and extras could have a hot meal."
T
"To those who fabricate lies and maliciously smear us, I advise you to produce evidence, or you'd better expect to receive a lawyer's letter."
As an Oscar-winning actress, Jennifer has a tremendous influence in Hollywood.
The tweet was retweeted hundreds of thousands of times in an instant.
Many industry insiders followed suit and forwarded the message to help clarify things for Chen Xun.
Following this, directors Todd Phillips and Robert De Niro also tweeted to confirm that Chen Xun was not present that day.
Todd took the blame directly, saying that the on-site management was the production team's fault and had nothing to do with Chen Xun. He said he had dismissed the on-site production manager, sincerely apologized to all the wronged extras, and provided them with appropriate compensation.
Warner Bros.' official statement followed shortly after.
The filming schedule for the day, Chen Xun's departure record, and Warner Bros. headquarters meeting attendance record were all released in full.
They even released video clips of the meeting, providing irrefutable evidence that Chen Xun was not at the subway filming location that day.
At the same time, it was announced that the on-site production manager would be permanently dismissed, a public apology would be issued to all the extras involved, compensation would be paid, and the team would cooperate fully with the Screen Actors Guild's investigation.
Once the irrefutable evidence was presented, public opinion online instantly reversed.
Many of those who had previously joined in the criticism realized they had been deceived, deleted their previous tweets, and began to criticize those who spread rumors and stirred up trouble.
Even so, there are still many extremists who continue to smear China with their eyes closed.
"Even if he wasn't on set, he was a co-producer and should bear full responsibility!"
They kept bringing up the topic of racial discrimination, as if they wouldn't stop until they brought Chen Xun down.
In stark contrast to the chaotic state of the international internet, there is the domestic microblog.
The hashtag #ChenXunIsForcedToBeRaciallyDiscriminated# immediately topped the Weibo trending list.
Once you click in, the style is completely different from the external website.
Fans didn't panic; instead, they started making jokes, filling the comments section with laughter: "Did I read that right? Foreign websites are saying Chen Xun, an Asian, is discriminating against whites and blacks in Hollywood? This is unbelievable!"
"Hilarious! It used to be white people accusing Asians of racism, but now it's the other way around? Chen Xun has literally flipped the table of racism in Hollywood! He's really something!"
"Is it possible that the international internet is genuinely desperate? Seeing a Chinese actor establish himself in Hollywood, winning Golden Globes, and vying for an Oscar, thus threatening their interests, they're resorting to such underhanded tactics to smear him?"
"To clarify: Chen Xun wasn't even on set that day. He even arranged a free food truck for the crew and treated the extras very well. Those spreading rumors online, could you at least look at the evidence before you speak?"
"In the past, it was always white people who discriminated against Asians, but now they can actually accuse Asians of discriminating against white people. What does that mean? It means that Chen Xun's status in Hollywood has made them afraid, so they can only deal with him in this way."
"Hahaha, help! Why am I actually feeling a bit good about this? Finally, I get to see Asians being forced to discriminate against whites and blacks! Chen Xun really made us proud this time!"
While fans were making jokes, they also filled the comments section with screenshots of Warner's official statement and Jennifer and Todd's clarifications, clearly explaining the ins and outs of the matter.
After seeing this, passersby overwhelmingly sided with Chen Xun, condemning the rumor-mongers on foreign websites for their double standards and shamelessness.
In his New York apartment, Chen Xun scrolled through the comments on Weibo and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Jennifer leaned closer to take a look. Not understanding Chinese, she asked curiously, "What are they saying? Why are they all laughing?"
Chen Xun handed her the phone and translated with a smile: "They said I was being forced to discriminate against whites and blacks, which really means I've made something of myself in Hollywood and gained face."
After hearing this, Jennifer couldn't help but burst into laughter. After laughing, she hugged his arm and said with heartache, "I'm sorry to have wronged you. You were splashed with such a big bucket of dirty water for no reason."
"That's how Hollywood is. They can't stand outsiders like you climbing too high, so they'll always find ways to get rid of you."
Chen Xun shook his head and reached out to pull her into his arms.
He had long known that the road to Hollywood would never be smooth sailing.
Racial prejudice, peer pressure, and malicious smear campaigns are all unavoidable.
This public opinion storm, which was stirred up by malicious rumors, did not subside after Warner's official statement was issued. Instead, it was pushed to an even more frenzied peak by people with ulterior motives.
On Twitter, the hashtag #BoycottTheClown has garnered over 20 billion views.
Countless anonymous accounts flooded the screen like madmen, fabricating even more outrageous rumors:
Some say Chen Xun verbally abused extras on set for a long time, some say he demanded that the crew provide the worst meals for white extras, and some even forged so-called internal emails claiming that Chen Xun demanded "a reduction in the screen time of black actors".
Even though Warner Bros. released irrefutable evidence proving that Chen Xun was not present that day, these people ignored it and continued to pester him with the claim that "co-producers should bear full responsibility."
Even more extreme, some protesters went to Warner Bros. headquarters in Manhattan and held up signs that read "Chen Xun, get out of Hollywood." The media took pictures of them and reported on them extensively, making the farce even bigger.
Rob's phone was ringing off the hook!
Dior's brand representatives, Marvel and Sony's marketing teams, and even domestic partners all called to inquire about the situation.
Warner's PR team worked around the clock, but still couldn't stop the overwhelming malicious smear campaign.
After all, in Hollywood, the topic of "minority discrimination against the mainstream" has an inherent power to stir up emotions, and too many people are happy to see a Chinese actor who has climbed to the top fall and be shattered.