Ugh, this whole story has the whiff of BS, but let’s just get through it. In the mid-1990s, Brad Pitt was flirting with Buddhism, like all of the cool Hollywood kids (this was before Kabbalah). Tibetan Buddhism in particular was seen as religion and a cause du jour in particular amongst the Hollywood crowd, mostly because the religion came wrapped up in a political cause: “Free Tibet”. Just know that I’m not mocking the Tibetan independence movement or anything – Tibet SHOULD be a free and autonomous state. I’m mocking the idea that a centuries-old fight for independence and autonomy can be solved by a few Hollywood types putting ceramic Buddhas in their homes.
Anyway, Brad was kind of into Buddhism, and to show his support, he did a film called Seven Years in Tibet, which came out in 1997. In case you haven’t seen it, the film is based on a true story of a European man living in Tibet during and immediately following WWII. Brad played the European man. Apparently, the Chinese government was super-pissed about the way they were portrayed in this Hollywood film, and they banned Brad Pitt from ever entering China. I believe Richard Gere also has a similar ban, mostly because he’s still tight with the Dalai Lama and because he made that weird Red Corner film. As far as I know, Brad has never been to China.
So that’s where we are now. Yesterday, American outlets began to claim that Brad had joined the Chinese version of Twitter called Sina Weibo (apparently the account was verified?), and his first and only tweet (presumably to the country of China) was “It is the truth. Yup, I’m coming…” According to People, “The surprising statement is the actor’s only “Tweet” on the social network, but it generated more than 24,000 comments from his nearly 160,000 followers before being deleted later in the day.”
So, is Brad going to China? Eh. Hollywood is trying to get their foot in the door over there, trying to increase their market and sales by cozying up to Beijing. It could be for real and everything is above board and Brad is going to kiss some ass and maybe even apologize or something, just to visit his Chinese fans. Either that or some clever Chinese hacker/Sina Weibo publicist punk’d everybody and that wasn’t really Brad’s account.
Photos courtesy of WENN, film stills courtesy of Google Images.
He might come to China but the story of him having Sina Weibo account sounds BS. If he doesn’t have a twitter here, why would he joined one in China??????? Seems odd. It could be a verified account set up by his management just for a marketing purpose in China.
I don’t think it’s Brad’s account. It seemed weird. If it really is his account then it’s probably run by a publicist as part of one of his endorsement deals.
If that is Brad’s Chinese Twitter, why is the picture so old? And would Brad really start off his first foray into social media with a line like that? Brad doesn’t do things on the cheap, everything is planned and he’s careful not to water down his brand (say what you want about the Chanel disaster, it was still Chanel). I dunno, this whole thing seems off. Haven’t his people said anything yet?
Wasn’t be banned from entering China after ‘Seven Years in Tibet’? Or has that been revoked?
Yes he was banned, along with David Thewlis as Kaiser mentioned.
I don’t think China are really known for revoking bans.
You p*ss ’em off, they stayed p*ssed off.
Actually I think the guy David was in China for some event; presenting an award or hosting an event. not sure which. so I guess they do change their minds.
Did you even read the article? It was already stated that he’s been banned from China since that movie.
Considering China violates human rights, the horrible treatment of unwanted baby girls maybe he and Angie are going baby shopping. Otherwise it would slam against all that la Jolie stands for would it not?
What is baby shopping? Are you a baby shopper?
Nope too old, and cranky..one word set you off did I set a record for unleashing the Kracken?
They couldn’t adopt from China even if they wanted to. Only married couples with no more than two children under 13 are eligible to adopt from China. Even if they got married, they still have six kids under 13.
Imposter Fake Tweet was removed I just read “Shiloh” has been tweeting since she was three.There was a fake Angelina twitter last year
I think that account is fake and from what I saw on another site it has been deleted. Same thing happened with Angie and a fake account. I know Angelina has said she wanted to go to China and was looking into Brad’s banned status.
But really I’m sure that it is BS. Brad and Angie are not known to be tweeting and such.
Oh my, wasn’t he beautiful back then.
Sounds like a fake account.
I did recently read that China is the fastest growing international market for Hollywood though, so don’t be surprised if some celebs start showing up there more.
man he was so beautiful in his hayday
Sounds like bs to me. I liked him in this movie.
Richard Gere was also banned from China. I don’t know about the acct, but I still love Brad!
It’s definitely fake, I can’t ever see Brad or Angelina having Twitter accounts… for some reason, A-list movie stars just don’t do Twitter. I guess, to retain some kind of a mysterious persona to the public or whatever.
Tom Hanks is the exception to that rule.
This has to be bs