Paul W.S. Anderson's Monster Hunter, which is set to hit theaters in the U.S. on December 25, is already causing a fair amount of controversy in China, where it's already been released.
Per Variety, the film has been pulled from theaters after its opening day, and is currently being censored by Chinese regulators, due to "a ten second-long exchange in the film that patriotic local viewers say 'insults China.'"
Monster Hunter, which stars Milla Jovovich and is based on the hit game from Capcom, "enjoyed midnight screenings in the small hours of Friday local time, and officially debuted in Chinese cinemas on Friday, Dec. 4." The film is now being pulled from local theaters all around China because of an exchange that was, reportedly, intended to be a light-hearted scene.
Variety states that Monster Hunter made up approximately 25% of all film screenings in China on Friday. That number has now fallen to around .07%.
One notice that was sent to cinemas read: "A new version is being produced overnight, and should be the one screened...Theaters should please strictly observe that the old version should not be further screened a single time." Right now though, despite that notice, Variety is stating that "the release of even a censored version is effectively halted."
In the wake of this, "Chinese users have quickly flooded the video game’s Steam page with hundreds of angry, negative reviews."
Apparently, the scene in question is a dumb, pun-y exchange between two characters that unwittingly made Chinese moviegoers think was "a reference to an old, racist schoolyard rhyme insulting Asians." The situation was seemingly made worse by the translation, which was localized in a way that was a "reference to a Chinese colloquialism," causing some viewers to deem the moment an insult.
In the film, Jovovich plays Natalie Artemis, the leader of a group of soldiers who gets transported from their world into that of the Monster Hunter video games. Jovovich's Artemis teams up with The Hunter (Tony Jaa) and his boss, The Admiral (Ron Perlman).
SANYA, China: Millions of domestic tourists are descending on China's southernmost island province of Hainan, presenting a surreal contrast with grim hospital scenes, shuttered restaurants and stifling home quarantine elsewhere in a virus-ravaged world.
Known at home as the "Hawaii of China", the island, about the size of Taiwan, has been free of coronavirus for six months, drawing eager shoppers to duty-free malls, couples seeking a sub-tropical backdrop for wedding pictures, and surfers just looking to "breathe freely".
October arrivals of 9.6 million, according to official data, exceeded the year-earlier figure, before the pandemic struck, by 3.1 per cent, although foreign visitors slumped 87 per cent. That was a far cry from February, when arrivals had dropped almost 90 per cent.
The rapid surge in tourism shows China's consumer sector may be throwing off its virus-induced slumber as the closure of many international borders pushes travellers to destinations such as Hainan, traditionally costlier than most of Southeast Asia.
Tourism spending has got a leg up since a new duty-free spending cap of 100,000 yuan (US$15,186) for travellers took effect in July, up from 30,000 yuan earlier.
Hainan has raked in 12 billion yuan in such sales in the following four months, to stand up 214.1 per cent on the year, or almost on par with 2019 sales of 13.61 billion.
Tourists racing through the Haitang Bay Duty Free Shopping Center in the island's city of Sanya were astonished at the queues outside the boutiques of luxury brands from Chanel to Gucci, with some likening the scene to a yard sale.
"This is crazy - we did not expect so many people," said a visitor from the southwestern city of Chengdu, who gave her name only as Mrs Xie.
But she was willing to queue for more than 30 minutes in the 1.1 million sq m mall just to enter a Gucci store.
"Seriously, is Gucci that cheap? With these many people in line, I would've thought it's free," said the 32-year-old.
People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak shop at a cosmetics store inside the Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex in Sanya, Hainan province, China Nov 25, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)
A 53-year-old woman surnamed Liu who used to visit Thailand or Malaysia at this time of year said Sanya had been a good substitute. She paid more than 14,000 yuan for a Gucci handbag.
"Such a steal!" said the native of Chongqing, another southwestern city.
"We already bought cosmetics in Haikou and we're here for the bags," she added, referring to the island's capital.
As the "stay-home" economy grew in China because of the global pandemic, Morgan Stanley estimates "reshored consumption" could reach up to US$165 billion this year.
Although the 46 million visitors Hainan received from January to October were well below the 2019 figure of 83 million domestic and foreign tourists, Chinese travellers are set to extend the tourism boom into the winter.
Reflecting demand, the average daily rate of bookings in Sanya soared 43 per cent in November from a year earlier to US$151, and jumped 51 per cent to US$190 for December, says analytics firm AirDNA, which tracks bookings on Airbnb and Vrbo.
While the number of properties with at least one night booked rose 7 per cent in November, the figure for December had already reached 85 per cent of the year-earlier level.
Hainan is also the travel destinations for the Lunar New Year coming up in February, says analytics firm ForwardKeys.
People dine at a hotpot restaurant in Sanya, Hainan province, China Nov 26, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)
On a beach stretch studded with five-star hotels along Yalong Bay, dozens of newly-weds prepared for elaborate wedding shoots.
The pandemic thwarted the plans of Xia Weini, 30, and her 28-year old husband Wang Yu, natives of far western Xinjiang, to visit the Thai resort island of Phuket to pose for their photos.
"Xinjiang is probably the most landlocked place in China, so we've always wanted to get married near the sea," said Xia.
They ended up spending more than 10,000 yuan in Sanya for the pictures instead.
Apart from the glitz, Hainan offers a sense of normalcy that is a powerful draw.
Business is proving so good in Houhai village, a surf spot about a 40-minute drive from the centre of Sanya, that many are turning homes into surf clubs, said Che Linxin, brand manager at Jile Surf Inn.
Women exercise during an online gym class at a surfing hotel in Houhai village in Sanya, Hainan province, China Nov 25, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)
As surfing catches on among young people stuck at home during the pandemic, the six-year-old club has drawn surfers, musicians and painters among its customers, who tripled from last year.
"There's no off-season in Sanya this year. Everyday is peak season ever since we first reopened in March," Che added.
Yanzi, a 25-year-old tour guide from Beijing, is a regular.
"I had bad headaches when I was in Beijing. Maybe it's the air or the fact my company is not even paying me my base salary," she said.
"But here, I can just walk around in public in my bikini, bathe in the sunshine and breathe freely."
JEUMONT, France: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, French care home resident Colette Dupas's contact with her daughters has been limited to talking via video call, or through a window.
Now the 97-year-old has been able to feel their touch, thanks to an inflatable tunnel and two plastic sleeves.
A bubble room installed to visit residents in the garden of the Fondation Shadet Vercoustre retirement home in Bourbourg. (Photo: Reuters)
The "hug bubble" allows care home residents, isolated from the outside world to protect them from the virus, to hold hands and embrace visiting relatives, because at all times they are separated by a hermetically-sealed plastic film.
Dupas ran a bakery in Boussois, 6km from the nursing home, until her retirement. Her family still run the business.
When meeting her daughters on Friday (Dec 4), Dupas entered through one end of the tunnel. She stood in front of the plastic sheet and put her arms through two plastic sleeves stitched into the film at shoulder height.
A contact bubble allows seniors to hug their loved ones in France. (Photo: Reuters)
Her daughters, Marie-Paule Dronsart and Marie-Joseph Marchant, approached from the other side. Each of them put one arm through a sleeve. They patted their mother's shoulders and stroked her white hair.
Before leaving, they took turns to kiss their mother on the cheek through the plastic.
"It has brought comfort," said Stephanie Loiseau, a nursing assistant at the care home in Jeumont, near the border with Belgium.
A contact bubble allows seniors to hug their loved ones in France. (Photo: Reuters)
Before the bubble was installed at the home, she added, "residents would see their relatives through a window or through a camera and they were really missing having real contact".
Once Dupas and her daughters left the bubble, a care home worker disinfected the plastic, ready for the next encounter: Fabienne Dewille meeting her mother, Raymonde Loire.
Dewille used the plastic sleeves to grip her mother's hands. "It feels good to be able to meet like this, doesn't it?" she said to her mother.
With a record-breaking 83.6 million Chinese viewers for its spring 2021 collection, Dior successfully cashed at the recent annual Singles’ Day shopping festival via limited-editions and online promotions.
Dior has been trying out various digital strategies since 2015 when it became the first luxury brand to promote its offerings on WeChat Moments. And, back in 2018, Dior opened the first luxury livestream on WeChat.
Through its efforts to localize in China, the Christian Dior group recorded $21.6 billion in revenue during the first half of 2020, with 12 percent organic growth.
For LVMH, Dior is their cash cow and lab mouse, as the French fashion powerhouse is not afraid of testing the waters of the lucrative Chinese market. Though not every experiment has been a success, the forward-thinking brand is now decisively ahead in the localization game.
With a record-breaking 83.6 million Chinese viewers for its spring 2021 collection, Dior successfully cashed at the recent annual Singles’ Day shopping festival. For the first time, the brand rolled out a series of limited-edition products exclusively for the Double 11 event after announcing it on Dior’s official WeChat account on October 13. It’s the first time a top-tier luxury brand has released a capsule collection exclusively for the online shopping event.
At the same time, Dior’s parent group, LVMH, is relieving itself from outsourcing its e-commerce business to other multi-brand platforms by launching its own, called 24S. The platform, which is a one-stop shopping destination for brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, and Givenchy, offered up to 30-percent off orders over $3,500 (23,000 yuan) as its own version of a Singles’ Day promotion. Tools like these are sure to stimulate younger buyers’ desire to buy. For example, an $840 (5,540 yuan) Dior Homme jumper is currently being marketed through a payment plan for $2.40 (15.18 yuan) per day, which is less than a daily coffee over 12 months. As such, the orders for Double 11 were so many that many companies had to ship goods from overseas markets to Mainland China.
Items from Dior’s autumn/winter 2020 collection on show at Paris Fashion Week earlier this year can now be snapped up online by Chinese shoppers. Photo: Handout
Dior has been trying out various digital strategies for years now. Back in 2015, Dior became the first luxury brand to promote its offerings on WeChat Moments. And, in 2018, Dior opened the first luxury livestream on WeChat. It was also the first luxury brand to open up an online WeChat store for a handbag. In the same year, Dior took the initiative to become the first luxury brand to test out Douyin by opening its first official account. The French luxury brand also entered into the popular video-sharing platform Bilibili to further attract millennials and Gen Zers.
Aside from actively building the brand’s social media accounts, Dior is also working on converting that traffic into sales. In June 2020, Dior launched its official Tmall store right before the Chinese online shopping carnival 6.18. However, only skincare products, cosmetics, and perfumes were available on the Tmall store. Over 335,000 fans were collected in just one month.
As a result, the Christian Dior group recorded $21.6 billion in revenue during the first half of 2020, with 12 percent organic growth. But the road to localization can be bumpy sometimes. In 2019, Dior presented a workshop at Zhejiang Gongshang University and featured a map that did not show Taiwan. Within 12 hours, a video of the episode had been viewed over 1 million times on Weibo, resulting in more than 3,000 comments, most of them negative. The incident caused outrage among young netizens who have grown increasingly sensitive to an escalating series of cultural and geographic faux pas committed by Western brands.
On the way towards localization, brands must be very careful when featuring Chinese culture in their products, or it can look like a clumsy gimmick and will soon become a trending joke on the internet. For example, before the Double 11 capsule, Dior released a new, limited edition Book Tote and Diorcamp handbags in May where consumers can choose to add personalized Chinese characters to the bag. However, the response from Chinese netizens has been less than flattering. They found the design “weird and cheap.”
Through trial and error, Dior learned how to understand the Chinese market better. During this year’s Shanghai art week, Dior rolled out the fifth installment of its Dior Lady Art artist collaboration series alongside the art that inspired the collaborations. To amplify the project to customers of spending-power levels in China, the brand set up an afternoon tea area inside the art fair for VIPs to enjoy French pastries and a cup of cappuccino with the Dior logo in foam. At the same time, its army of local ambassadors showcased the bags for the brand’s millions of followers on social media. The seamless combination of Dior’s offline-to-online consumer journey showcased how the brand has grown over the years. As you can see, localization is a long and hard class to take, but the lessons are worth the effort.
TAIPEI — Jolin Tsai ended her Kaohsiung concert with a special guest on Sunday (Nov 29) — Dee Hsu who kissed her passionately on stage before cracking a few jokes.
The 40-year-old pop diva also invited MJ116, Hebe and Wu Bai to be guests at her performances over the last two weekends at Kaohsiung Arena as part of the Ugly Beauty 2019-2020 World Tour.
In an interview after the concert, Jolin said that she felt no stress when performing with any of them.
Speaking of Dee's sudden kiss, Jolin revealed that they had talked about the kissing part during the rehearsal. 'She is more serious than I am. She was very engaged, very engaged in the performance,' Jolin said.
The tour, which started at Taipei Arena at the end of 2019, was brought to a standstill amid the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year. It took almost a year for the singer to resume the performances.
Asked if she is worried about the undecided dates of the following concerts, Jolin said that she is not worried at all. 'I feel at ease after accomplishing this,' she remarked.
The former celebrity couple had an adorable exchange over Instagram during Thanksgiving which led to hopes of a reunion. The 51-year-old actress posted some cute photos of herself and her holiday date, who came in the form of her new puppy, Lord Chesterfield.
Jennifer captioned the post with a short yet simple message, “We’re grateful” together with praying hands and a heart emoji. Justin, 49 was one of the first people to react to Jennifer’s post, leaving the same emojis and the addition of hands applauding. Jennifer’s eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice the exchange, commenting, “I love you guys” and “he’s sending her hearts!”.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston remained as friends even after the divorce. Picture: YouTube
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Fans commended the pair for remaining friends despite the demise of their marriage with a number of fans hoping that they will reconcile. This is not the first time the duo have supported one another. Jennifer was nominated for an Emmy earlier this year for her role in The Morning Show and when the actress shared her good news on social media, Justin leapt at the chance to back her and wrote: “Woot woot!”
Besides Justin, Jennifer has been keeping in touch with another ex-husband, Brad Pitt. During a Fast Times at Ridgemont High virtual table read, Jennifer and Brad had a red-hot reunion. The duo got into character and at one point Jennifer even called her ex-husband, “sexy.”
The Along Came Polly actress didn’t hold back when she acted out a scene from the 1982 cult teen movie. “Hi Brad,” she said seductively.
“You know how cute I always thought you were. You’re so sexy. Will you come to me.”
Brad and Jennifer were joined by fellow A-lilsters, including Julia Roberts, John Legend and Morgan Freeman, who all watched on giggling at the interaction which has to be seen to be believed! /TISG
The humble wonton noodle is set to be part of a million-dollar deal, with restaurant giant Jumbo Group looking to buy the Kok Kee Wanton Noodle hawker stall and take it across the island and abroad.
If the proposed $2.1 million acquisition goes through, the group will take a 75 per cent stake in the 35-year-old stall. The remaining 25 per cent will be held by Kok Kee's second-generation owner Shirley Leong.
Once the sale is complete, Kok Kee will become an indirect subsidiary of the Jumbo Group, which will have exclusive rights to develop a franchise system for Kok Kee in Singapore and abroad.
Kok Kee - known for its springy noodles and lard-based chilli sauce - started in 1985 at the now-defunct Lavender Food Square, before moving to Hoa Nam Building in Jalan Besar. After a three-year closure, it returned last year to its present location at Bistro 8 coffee shop in Foch Road.
Mr Ang Kiam Meng, Jumbo Group chief executive officer and executive director, said having hawker concepts such as Kok Kee will help to diversify the group's income streams, away from its dominant full-service dine-in restaurants.
"We are very excited about the prospects of Kok Kee as it caters primarily to the local mass market, well-suited for fast turnover dine-in or takeaway. We look forward to introducing more of such concepts, if opportunities arise."
Brands under Jumbo include the flagship Jumbo Seafood, Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh and Zui Yu Xuan Teochew Cuisine. On Dec 3, the group will launch virtual brand Hack It, which specialises in seafood meal delivery.
In a separate report, the group also announced a net loss of about $8.2 million for its financial year ended Sept 30.
Mr Ang, a fan of hawker food, added: "I strongly believe Singapore has a unique food culture which should be conserved and propagated.
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"In recent years, more pioneer generation hawkers are closing due to old age and lack of successors. This proposed acquisition is not only strategic to the group's business objectives, but also allows Jumbo to play our part as a Singapore enterprise to preserve and promote our Singapore heritage flavours and dishes."
In an e-mail response to The Sunday Times via Jumbo Group, Ms Leong said: "I am very happy and honoured to work with one of the biggest F&B groups in Singapore which appreciates our wonton mee - a simple heritage dish - that I have grown up and fell in love with. More importantly, they want to preserve it as much as I do.
"Age is catching up with our pioneer crew and with my own limited resources, it will be an uphill task for me to manage and expand the business."
After the acquisition, she will stay on to ensure a smooth transition and oversee the transfer of operational knowledge to Jumbo's team, and "hopefully expand our network in Singapore".
Another recent acquisition is BreadTalk Group's deal - for an undisclosed sum - with the hawkers behind First Street Teochew Fish Soup in Upper Serangoon Road. The 32-year-old brand is known for its signature broth made by simmering chicken, pork and fish bones for at least four hours.
Its first new outlet under the partnership was launched on Nov 11 at BreadTalk IHQ's Food Republic food court and more outlets are likely to open in the future.
Previous high-profile acquisitions include Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint in Upper Paya Lebar Road, sold to conglomerate Aztech Group for $4 million in 2014.
Two years later, Hersing Culinary sank $1 million into its partnership with hawker Chan Hon Meng of one-Michelin-starred Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, to set up the first quick-service Hawker Chan restaurant in Smith Street.
This article was first published inThe Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction
tvN’s new Saturday-Sunday drama “Mr. Queen” revealed new glimpses of Kim Jung Hyun’s character!
“Mr. Queen” is a historical fusion drama about a man from modern times whose soul gets trapped in the body of a queen from the Joseon dynasty. Shin Hye Sun takes the role of Kim So Yong, the queen with the soul of Jang Bong Hwan trapped inside her. Kim Jung Hyun plays King Cheoljong, who seems like a weak and ineffective king but has a sharp and strong-willed side that he keeps hidden.
The newly released photos show King Cheoljong reading among the cherry blossoms with perfect posture. Then for an unknown reason, he is up and ready to take on a fight. However, his awkward stance doesn’t make him seem like a big threat.
But at night, his playful side is nowhere to be seen. Instead, he has a stone-cold expression and creates a sense of tension. There is much to be uncovered about his true self and why he continues to keep this act up.
Regarding the series, Kim Jung Hyun commented, “It was interesting idea for a modern day man to find himself in the body of a Joseon dynasty queen.” On his character, he said, “King Cheoljong is someone who is both naive and cool-headed.”
The actor went on to say, “I’m paying special attention to the scenes where I interact with the queen, since her character is one that is unpredictable. I’m trying to focus on how I respond to her unexpected actions.” He shared that he thinks it will be fun for viewers to discover all the different sides to the king, asking them to find out about his unexpected charming qualities through the broadcast.
“Mr. Queen” will premiere December 12 at 9 p.m. KST and will be available on Viki.
In the meantime, watch Kim Jung Hyun in “Time” here:
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The family of a pharmaceutical company executive, who died at the age of 44 after a liposuction procedure in 2013, was awarded damages of about $5.6 million by the High Court yesterday.
Surgeon Edward Foo Chee Boon, who was sued by the family of Madam Mandy Yeong Soek Mun, was ordered to pay the damages after the court found he was negligent in performing the procedure at the TCS at Central Clinic.
In a written judgment, Justice Choo Han Teck said: "Dr Foo, who may well be a competent general surgeon, was not adequately trained to perform the liposuction and fat transfer procedures.
"Unfortunately, Dr Foo believed himself capable and thus did not manage this case as a competent surgeon in this field should have done."
The judge also said Dr Foo's delay in calling for an ambulance after Madam Yeong collapsed at his clinic was an act of negligence.
Dr Foo initially blamed the doctors at Singapore General Hospital's accident and emergency department for failing to resuscitate her, but dropped his case against them midway through the trial.
On June 28, 2013, Madam Yeong underwent a procedure at the TCS at Central Clinic to remove fat from her abdominal flanks, followed by a fat transfer to smooth the unevenness in her thighs. It was her third liposuction procedure at the clinic.
EMBOLISM
After a two-hour operation, she developed complications and was taken to SGH, where she died 21/2 hours later from pulmonary fat embolism, in which blood flow is blocked by fat particles.
In 2016, her family, represented by Senior Counsel Kuah Boon Theng, sued Dr Foo.
They alleged Dr Foo was negligent in his failure to tell her about the risks in performing the procedure, and in his post-operative care. He denied the allegations.
Justice Choo said Dr Foo had not adequately drawn Madam Yeong's attention to the risk of fat embolism. But the judge inferred from the evidence that she would probably have gone ahead nonetheless.
Turning to the procedure itself, Justice Choo said: "All things considered, it was more likely than not that Dr Foo had inadvertently punctured a blood vessel as he was injecting the fat into Mandy Yeong's thigh."
As for the events after the procedure, the judge noted that after Madam Yeong's oxygen saturation level fell, "the picture that emerges is that of total mayhem and confusion".
Dr Foo said he spent about 45 minutes trying to diagnose the cause of the drop before the ambulance was called.
Justice Choo said there was no reason why Dr Foo could not have called an ambulance while simultaneously diagnosing the problem.
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Taiwanese singer Vivian Hsu has reacted to criticisms of her behaviour at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards on Saturday (Nov 21).
Hsu was on stage with veteran actor Tsai Chen-nan to present the awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography.
Hsu, 45, is also a producer and actress in the movie Little Big Women, which was nominated for six awards, including Best Leading Actress for Chen Shu-fang and Best Supporting Actress for Hsieh Ying-xuan.
Chen was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for another movie, Dear Tenant.
Hsu seemed to be more nervous than the nominees before announcing the winner for Best Supporting Actress.
She said she hoped Hsieh would win the award, which some took as a sign of disrespect for the other four nominees.
Hsu then opened the envelope for the winner of Best Supporting Actress, but said she did not dare look at it and handed it to Tsai.
He was about to announce the winner when she took the envelope back, looked at it and announced that Chen had won for Dear Tenant.
The whole process dragged on for about five minutes. There were strong reactions from netizens, who slammed Hsu for being "rude", "trying too hard to be humorous" and "talking too much".
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In response to the online brickbats, Hsu wrote a post late on Saturday.
She said in Chinese: "Being a producer for the first time, I tried to do my best. I was also a little bit excited and nervous as I tried to enliven the proceedings.
"Please forgive me if there are imperfections, and thanks for all the criticism and advice. Thanks to Brother Nan for the wonderful sentence."
Tsai had said before Hsu announced the winner that no one would remember the winners one week after the ceremony.
Chen also won Best Leading Actress on Saturday.
This article was first published inThe Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
In multiple videos on her own TikTok account, Paytas had called Dixie and Charli "entitled" and "unbecoming" after watching their family dinner video. Dixie evidently took issue with the criticisms, because she responded by posting a since-deleted video recalling a past controversy of Paytas': the YouTuber rapping to NWA's "F*ck the Police" and using the N-word in 2010. Dixie danced to the cover in her TikTok. "I couldn't find the sound for this dance so I chose a random one," Dixie captioned the video, according to Insider. "Hope that's okay!! Anyways let's get back to the RENEGADE!!"
In the comments, Dixie added that she was "didn't want to promote a racist sound" but "I made my point. It's done. It's over. And Charli is a queen. Goodnight." Despite her preemptive defense of herself, the elder D'Amelio sister — who, like Paytas is white — was then criticized by Black social media users and influencers like Jackie Aina, who said she was "trivializing and making a joke out of Black trauma" for the sake of "prov[ing] a point." Paytas also slammed Dixie for the video, writing on Twitter that she recorded the cover "10 years ago and have since apologized numerous times." However, she added that Dixie "danced and smiled to it YESTERDAY!" before asking, "Where's ur apology ?? Not cool in 2020 girl."
Finally, on Nov. 21, D'Amelio apologized for the video in a post on Twitter. "I posted a tiktok with the intention of making a point that didn’t need to be made," the social media star wrote. "I took it down and i sincerely apologize for posting it in the first place and am so thankful for everyone. i’m wishing you all a great weekend and thank you again for the love and support." After one of her followers attempted to defend her in a since-deleted tweet, Dixie emphasized in a follow-up post that "it was dumb and tone deaf" of her to respond with that clip.
Both Dixie and Charli have been at the center of controversy since the first installment of their new YouTube series, Dinner With the D'Amelios, was posted on Nov. 16. In the video, the pair and their parents — along with "mystery guest" James Charles — sat down to a surprise meal cooked by their chef, Aaron May. After the clip was posted, the sisters were called out for displaying "poor manners" at the table, with Dixie gagging and spitting out food and Charli asking to be served "Dino nuggets" instead.
Charli also complained that she hadn't reached 100 million TikTok subscribers in the span of a year, despite having the number one video on the app. (She has since lost over 800,000 subscribers in response to the controversy.) Following the public backlash, Dixie posted a TikTok where she attempted to explain "the full story" behind the video, in which she claimed that her team and the chef intentionally encouraged her to eat the snail as a prank to garner a reaction. "I love Chef, and I would never disrespect him in any way, and maybe don't judge someone's personality over a 15-second video," she said in the clip.
Charli issued an apology of her own on Instagram Live and YouTube, before opening up about the amount of hate she has received as a result of the controversy. "Blatantly disrespecting the fact that I'm a human being is not OK. You can hate on me for whatever I've done but the fact that all of this is happening because of a misunderstanding," she said, through tears. "I just feel like that's not OK."
