New X-Men: Apocalypse Movie Billboard Sparks Outrage
June 3, 2016
A billboard advertising the new film X-Men: Apocalypse is stirring outrage amongst people in Hollywood.
The billboard features Apocalypse (Oscar Issac) choking Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), with the caption that reads”Only The Strong Will Survive.”
Actress Ross McGowan voiced her concerns on Facebook:
“There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?”
She concluded her message with a text from a friend’s daughter.
“I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: ‘Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?’ This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?”
New York blogger EV Grieve the following photo of the poster above a subway station. It’s one of the billboards with the words “This violence in my kid’s face is not okay” written out in post-its.
Fox has issued the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
“In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women.”
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