EXCLUSIVE: Several GOP lawmakers are accusing Hollywood of once again acquiescing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the “Barbie” movie’s reported inclusion of a map that appears to endorse Beijing’s dominance of the South China Sea.
“While it may just be a Barbie map in a Barbie world, the fact that a cartoonish, crayon-scribbled map seems to go out of its way to depict [China’s] unlawful territorial claims illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House select committee on China, told Fox News Digital.
The upcoming summer blockbuster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling has found itself in the middle of one of today’s most heated geopolitical disputes.
Vietnamese officials announced the Warner Bros. film would be banned within its borders over the inclusion of a map that purportedly supports China’s claim to vast parts of the South China Sea. Officials in the Philippines have signaled they could follow suit.
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“This is yet another disgraceful example of Hollywood being in the pocket of communist China. Not only does it undermine our national security, but exposes the film industry’s blatant hypocrisy on social justice and human rights,” Waltz told Fox News Digital.
The boundary line shown on the map represents China’s claim to a vast section of the South China Sea, which is also being fought over by Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan. The map’s inclusion in “Barbie” underscores the growing controversy over Hollywood’s reliance on China, which has rivaled the U.S. for its biggest market in recent years.
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called the “Barbie” movie’s inclusion of the pro-China map wrong on a legal and moral level.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has been accused of numerous human rights abuses and stifling of free speech (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool, File)
An international tribunal at The Hague did say China’s claims to vast portions of the South China Sea had no legal merit in 2016, but Beijing dismissed the ruling at the time.
