Jo Malone apologizes to John Boyega for cutting him from Chinese ad
John Boyega has received an apology from Jo Malone after they cut him out of an advert in China.
Jo Malone has apologized to John Boyega for cutting him out of an advert in China.
The perfume brand has admitted to making a "mistake" by cutting John, 28, from the commercial, which he conceived, directed and starred in.
Jo Malone said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: "We deeply apologize for what on our end was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign.
"John is a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction. The concept for the film was based on John's personal experiences and should not have been replicated."
In the Chinese version of the advert, John was replaced by Liu Haoran after the ad was recast and reshot.
The original version - which was released last year - saw the movie star walking around Peckham, south London, riding a horse, and spending time with his family.
But after being remade for the Chinese market, the original ad's multicultural cast were replaced and it ultimately didn't feature any black cast members.
Jo Malone has now removed the local version of the campaign.
The company added: "We recognize that this was painful and that offence was caused. We respect John, and support our partners and fans globally.
"We are taking this misstep very seriously and we are working together as a brand to do better moving forward."
Meanwhile, John previously discussed the racism he encountered after being cast in the 'Star Wars' franchise.
The London-born actor - who played Finn in the money-spinning films - shared: "What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side.
"I'm the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race ... it makes you angry with a process like that."
