Chinese social media users have called for a boycott of the actor’s films, including ‘The Matrix: Resurrections,’ which was just released.

Chinese nationalists reacted angrily to Keanu Reeves’ Tibet benefit concert

Keanu Reeves has angered Chinese nationalists after it was revealed earlier this week that he will be singing at a Tibet benefit event. Some jingoistic Chinese social media users, dubbed “little pinks” in China, have suggested Christopher Reeve’s recently released The Matrix: Resurrections be boycotted as a result.

However, the latest Matrix film had already flopped in China prior to the revelations about Reeve’s involvement in the pro-Tibet event — the film opened to just $7.5 million and has only made $12.4 million to date — so the sudden outrage is unlikely to have much of an impact on the Warner Bros. title’s bottom line. The question for Reeve’s career is if he will become a de facto persona non grata in the Chinese entertainment industry in the future. After previously expressing support for Tibet, many Western celebrities have had their personal brands frozen out of China’s vast entertainment sector.

Richard Gere has been barred from Chinese screens for years due to his outspoken support for Tibet, a fact he claims cost him movie deals in Hollywood, where studios formerly coveted the China market’s growth potential. After acting in the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet, Brad Pitt was likewise banned for nearly two decades. Since her meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2016, Lady Gaga has been virtually barred from playing in the nation. 

Tibet House, a New York-based educational non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture, was founded in 1987. The organisation was founded by Dalai Lama supporters, and Beijing officials have called it a separatist movement advocating for Tibetan independence. China considers the culturally distinct Tibetan region to be an integral part of its national territory, and any notion of Tibetan independence is viewed as a threat to China’s sovereignty. Reeves had a large following in China before, thanks to his Chinese ancestry and the fact that he directed his directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi, there with the help of the state-backed China Film Group.