'Top Gun: Maverick' Brings Taiwan Flag Back to Tom Cruise's Jacket after Removing It for China

The producers of the new movie “Top Gun: Maverick” restored the Taiwanese and Japanese flag patches on the bomber jacket worn by Tom Cruise’s character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, after previously removing them from early promotional materials for the movie to avoid angering Chinese investors and censors.

The Taiwanese and Japanese flags were featured on Maverick’s jacket in the original 1986 naval aviation classic “Top Gun” but were removed in a 2019 trailer for the long-awaited sequel. The removal of the patches caused some observers to speculate that the move was done to appease Chinese Communist Party censors, who would likely view the Taiwanese flag as a symbol of the island’s independence from Chinese rule.

The original flag patch on Maverick’s jacket featured the red circle of a Japanese flag on the bottom left corner and the blue sky, white sun and red earth of the Taiwanese flag on the bottom left corner. The version seen in the early “Top Gun: Maverick” trailers showed the Japanese flag’s red circle had been changed into a red triangle, while the Taiwanese flag was turned into another unidentifiable symbol.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported the Taiwanese and Japanese flags were restored in the final U.S. version of the movie, which hit theaters this weekend after several delays.

The restoration of the flag patches also comes after the Chinese investment firm Tencent Holdings backed out of a deal to help finance the movie’s production.

 

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