Warner Bros. Faces Protest from Warner Japan, Issues Public Apology

According to foreign media reports, Warner Japan released a statement on social media, protesting Warner Bros.' involvement in the 'Barbenheimer' meme, claiming it uses the mushroom cloud from nuclear weapons that killed many Japanese as a joke, causing offense.

Recently, Warner Bros. issued a public apology for the matter.

In the past few days, the official social media account of 'Barbie,' operated by Warner Bros. in the United States, responded in a light-hearted tone to some tweets related to 'Barbenheimer' (fans playfully referred to the two films, 'Barbie' and 'Aubenheimer,' both released on the same day in North America, as 'Barbenheimer'). Some of the original tweets contained fan-created 'Barbenheimer' fan art, including photoshopped images of the mushroom cloud and nuclear explosions from 'Aubenheimer.'

As a result, some people launched the 'NoBarbenheimer' topic, protesting the 'Barbie' official account's 'jokingly spreading tweets that treat nuclear explosions that killed many Japanese as jokes'; some Japanese netizens also said they would not watch 'Barbie' since the official account joined the meme trend.

Subsequently, the official 'Barbie' social media account in Japan (operated by Warner Japan) released a statement: 'The official 'Barbie' account at the US headquarters responded to 'Barbenheimer' fans' social media posts, and we find this matter deeply regrettable. We take this matter very seriously and demand that the US headquarters take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate behaviors. - Warner Japan'

Recently, Warner Bros. removed a series of controversial comments from the 'Barbie' official tweets and issued a statement through the media: 'Warner Bros. regrets the recent insensitive social media behavior and expresses sincere apologies.'

'Barbie' is scheduled to be released in Japan on August 11, and 'Aubenheimer' is yet to be scheduled in Japan.