Recently, the new film “The Odyssey” directed by Christopher Nolan held its China premiere event in Beijing, with the main creative team including Nolan and lead actor Matt Damon in attendance. Shanghai Radio and Television bilingual host Chen Xuan served as the on-site interviewer. However, her action of squatting halfway to hand over the microphone sparked a huge controversy on social media.
According to reports from multiple Chinese media outlets, on July 30, Chen Xuan interviewed Nolan and others at the premiere of “The Odyssey” at the China Film Museum in Beijing.
In the footage from the event, Chen Xuan was seen with her back to the main camera, squatting to hand the microphone to Nolan and Damon, and this short video clip of just a few seconds quickly went viral on the internet, rapidly rising to the top of trending topics. The discussions overshadowed the film’s own promotion. Some netizens in the comments section criticized this posture as “too servile,” believing that the host should not lower herself in such a manner as the host of the event.
Facing the surging public opinion, Chen Xuan responded on August 1st, stating that the squatting was purely to accommodate the live broadcast setup, to avoid blocking the guests’ faces, and it is a standard practice in international film and television events, without catering to the subjective thoughts of foreign guests.
There are also voices saying that in large premiere events with multi-camera live broadcasts, the host squatting and turning sideways to the camera is a globally accepted filming coordination method aimed at optimizing camera composition and ensuring sound quality.
The incident continued to ferment on social media platforms, with netizens expressing divided opinions. Some believe that squatting to hand over the microphone is a professional operation to avoid blocking the camera angle, while others think the action was “excessively humble” and lacked the dignity of a host.
Former chief editor of the Global Times, Hu Xijin, commented in an article that without understanding the situation on the spot, one cannot rule out the possibility that Chen Xuan was indeed squatting to avoid blocking the camera, but “based on the overall effect at the scene, her doing so was unnecessary and unprofessional.”
Some netizens dug up Chen Xuan’s resume and found that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Economics from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and a master’s degree in International Management from the Royal Holloway College at the University of London. She joined Shanghai Radio and Television’s foreign language channel in 2007, has been in the industry for nearly 20 years, has hosted events such as the Shanghai World Expo and multiple Shanghai International Film Festivals, interviewed former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, appeared on the CCTV host competition stage in 2024, and was the image ambassador for the 48th World Skills Competition in 2026.
Some netizens brought up past footage of Chen Xuan hosting domestic events, questioning why if it was a “professional habit,” she stood upright when interviewing domestic directors in similar settings before?
At present, Chen Xuan has not made any further responses.
Another scene from “The Odyssey” Beijing premiere event was also exposed by netizens: at the end of the event, guests, former CCTV host Yang Lan in particular, greeted Matt Damon and others one by one. When Nolan passed by, she greeted him, but Nolan kept his hands in his pockets and walked past without stopping, seemingly being directly ignored, which led to netizens mocking Yang Lan as well.