Benjamin Yuen Gets in Heated “Nachos Dispute” at Movie Theater
During a private screening event of Avengers: Infinity War, a dispute occurred involving Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪) and an employee who works behind-the-scenes in the entertainment industry. The employee posted the incident online and scolded Benjamin’s rudeness.
The employee did not directly name the actor involved, “From what I’ve heard from many TVB veterans, this rising actor has a bad attitude. I experienced it myself first hand today. Before the movie began, my friend was talking to me. This actor thought my friend was staring at him and has already been mean-mugging my friend. When the movie started, I was eating chips that I bought at the theater. He used a very rude and nasty tone and said to me: ‘You need to be quiet!’ I can confidently say that I did not create any unnecessary noise. Perhaps [this actor] can demonstrate how to eat chips without making any sound? If you are so afraid of noise apart from the movie, why don’t you reserve the entire theater room to yourself? I wasn’t talking, nor was I checking my phone and causing any disturbances. Everyone who was sitting in that theater room that day were invited to the private screening. In other words, we are all colleagues [within the entertainment industry]. How famous do you think you are to warrant speaking to people in such a rude way?”
Benjamin Yuen’s Defense
Many were curious as to who the alleged male actor was. However, the unidentified artiste did not remain a mystery for long. Benjamin Yuen stepped forward to clarify the matter and posted his own defense statement. “Firstly, I’d like to express my apologies! However, I need to clarify something. I did not look at them in an unfriendly way. All I did was quietly say: ‘Excuse me, could you be quieter?’ in the ear of the person eating nachos and was ruffling through the packaging. At the time, this person reacted courteously. Towards the last scene of the movie, this person’s friend suddenly turned to me and loudly said: ‘If you’re such a big shot, you should reserve the whole room to watch the movie! I have never heard of anyone not letting people eat while watching a movie! What kind of big star do you think you are? If you’re so great, why do you need to get free tickets to watch the movie?’”
Benjamin continued, “I was getting a bit angry at the time. However, all I did was turn towards these people and say to them: ‘I apologize for earlier. I already politely and quietly asked!’ The other person said: ‘Alright! I will definitely post this incident online. Just know that the people sitting next to you are not some insignificant nobodies!’ I just calmly nodded and left with my friends. I want to again clarify one point. I didn’t let you not eat! I only wanted you to think about others and eat quietly, so that others can enjoy the movie. Besides, we were all invited to the private screening as guests, so there is no high or low status! Lastly, I did not want to bicker with you all. I only want to defend myself against such negative news. Regardless of whether you are from within the entertainment industry or not, I just want everyone to be reasonable and respectful of one another. Thank you.”
Priscilla Wong Supports Benjamin Yuen
When Benjamin’s friends read the posts and learned of the incident, many voiced their support. Mary Hon (韓馬利) wrote, “I know what kind of person you are and you would definitely not give such an attitude to others. I support you 100 percent!”
Good friend Priscilla Wong (黃翠如) said, “If there is something wrong or if he seems something immoral, Benjamin would definitely say something. He is a straightforward person. I think a lot of people should learn from him. He has not ever lost his temper with me before! I will call him to understand the situation.”
This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.
Munching nachos was too loud? Such a first-world problem and example of how the smallest triggers make people fly into a rage now. Benjamin Yuen may like to speak his mind and tell it as it is, but this “nachos dispute” is so petty. Whether he defends himself or not over this incident is going to make him look bad.
@jayne That was my thought too when I first read about this in entertainment news section (though technically my first reaction was why the hell is this front page news, lol). Benjamin may not have given a bad attitude as he claims but honestly, getting upset at someone eating chips in a theater is already a bit over the top. My question is, how was he even able to hear the person munching on chips when the sound effects from the movie are so loud? He must not have been paying attention to the movie then…
@llwy12 actually I think everyone is over reacting. Eating nacho can be quite loud, and inside the theatre, it’s not always 100% loud. I tend to be annoyed with people who seems to do it quite loudly, I just get annoyed and don’t say anything, and most of the time, the chips eaters are too far for me to say anything. So for Benjamin, his words are not that angry type, and like he said he didn’t stop that person from eating or repeating his request, so his request is as civilised as it gets
@littlefish It has actually turned into a big issue now, as other artists are weighing in, including some who were there that night as well (another industry person — a DJ from Commercial Radio — happened to be sitting right in front of the guy eating the nachos and apparently was “told off” by the same guy for “sitting too high in his seat” — apparently the dude also said some choice words about Ben too which the DJ overheard as well). Also, the “chips guy” (as the media nicknamed him, lol) has since done follow up post in response to Benjamin’s post and also did an interview with a media outlet to clarify things (and yes, he was very apologetic because it was revealed that he and his friends were the ones with the bad attitude, not Ben). I still think the originating issue itself was no big deal, but I did get quite a kick out of Jan Lamb “analyzing” the entire occurrence on his CRHK radio show yesterday morning…his cynical “analysis” of the whole thing was pretty hilarious, IMO.
@llwy12 haha I wish I can hear this analyse xD yea, I’m one of those conscious chip eater in the cinema lol. It’s easier to reduce the chip eating noise, let the chips soak inside your mouth before munching it, munch slower, etc. what always makes me jump is when I reach in for more chips LoL, those damn bags are always so noisy xD good thing that the other guy did weigh in! All is forgiven I guess lawl!
Since I’m a girl, I’m a bit too timid to tell/remind the other person when they forget to be courteous, so in a sense, thumb up for Ben as like I said it felt he did it in the most courteous way possible.
@littlefish LOLz…I guess for me I can’t relate because I’m usually good at drowning out other sounds when I’m watching a movie at a theater. Even when people laugh really loud or yell, I’m able to ignore it usually so eating sounds of course not an issue, haha…the one thing that does distract me though is when people get up from their seats in the middle of a movie, especially if they are sitting in front of me….
I must say, those CRHK radio people are so talented, lol. The DJ Ah Ning’s post about his experience sitting in front of the chips guy was already super funny, then Jan tops it off with his own analysis of events (and knowing how he always has a straight face on even when he says something funny makes the stuff he says even funnier).
@llwy12 can I hv the link to those posts pl?
@passingby Unfortunately, I can’t post all the links because there are too many (5 articles total from HK01 alone) and it will cause my comment to get banned. I’m only including the link to the latest article, which is the one from yesterday (4/28) where Ben gives a final response on the matter (his final response is technically in response to the chip guy’s follow up post as well as HK01 interview). Fortunately though, when you click into the article, right at the top (underneath the picture), there are links to the other 4 articles related to this issue: the original one as translated above that brought the issue to light in the first place; the one recapping Ah Ning’s (CRHK DJ) response; the one “recapping” Jan Lamb’s analysis from his radio show (though this one it’s best to listen to the actual program because the recap is kind of hard to understand and doesn’t do it justice); and the chip guy’s follow up post on social media as well as his exclusive interview with HK01. Luckily all the articles except the radio show recap one include screenshots of the original posts from the various artists’ FB pages so you can read directly what they wrote rather than the articles’ paraphrased versions….(btw, I chose to post the HK01 version because that’s the only media outlet that actually made the effort to recap everything in detail, including screenshots of social media as well as backlinks to previous articles — other media outlets wrote about the issue as well, but none of them were as organized as HK01 was)…
Here’s the link: https://www.hk01.com/%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E5%A8%9B%E6%A8%82/183119/%E5%BE%A9%E4%BB%87%E8%80%85%E8%81%AF%E7%9B%9F3-%E8%A2%81%E5%81%89%E8%B1%AA%E7%B5%82%E6%A5%B5%E5%9B%9E%E6%87%89-%E5%BB%BA%E8%AD%B0%E5%8F%AF%E8%87%AA%E5%B7%B1pm%E8%87%AA%E5%B7%B1%E7%84%B6%E5%BE%8C%E6%AF%94like
@llwy12 thanks for the info .
@jayne From the way it was described, it doesn’t sound like Ben flew off the handle, but was rather calmly vocalizing his irritation. The other party, however, seemed to have overreacted rather immaturely, causing needless drama (for attention, perhaps?).
Some people can be rather loud/aggressive when eating in the theater. Maybe this guy had a habit of chewing with his mouth open; we don’t know. Just because eating is permitted, does not mean one should abuse that privilege. Sure, it’s part of the viewing experience, but that’s not a permit to disregard your fellow audience.
Since it was a private screening for a group of adult professionals, I deem it reasonable to expect a certain level of courtesy and consideration.
Lolz.. this is quite funny.. a friend once told me she soak her popcorn in her mouth before munching as someone (stranger) next to her complained she’s too noisy…munching popcorn.. Lolz..
@cassiemissy A testament to how crunchy it is because of how much caramel is on it. Yum.
I too get irritated by inconsiderate people who eat nonstop in cinemas. The munching and rustling of chips bags can get really annoying if the person is seated near or next to you. Ben’s version is that he asked politely. I think there’s nothing wrong with that. However the other guy’s version was that Ben asked him to keep quiet in a rude tone. Whose version is the real version only the 2 parties know.
I think asking people to keep quiet just because he was eating nachos loudly (and come on, how loud can that be?) is rude. If you can’t stand people munching on food sort of sounds, rent the dvd and go home. If he can’t stand this, I am looking forward to hear his reaction with children crying, telephone ringing, handphone lights on in dark cinema, person coughing non stop, people sitting with legs on their chairs (yes it happens), spoilers talker, people who scream or laugh at inappropriate times (a girl next to me laughed hysterically when a character was pitifully killed during WWII by enemies and you wonder, where’s her brain?), people coming in late, people going to toilets, people snoring, legs shaking, people eating smelly food (not bought at cinema kiosk), hands over limit on the arm of the chair, etc.
In all these, nachos is a small small problem and if he doesn’t have patience for that small small problem, it speaks volumes about that person.
And I speak from experience because I watch movies at cinema every weekend. He can rent the entire place.
Now assuming the munching was loud, and I’ve eaten nachos before, it isn’t that loud. The smell of the cheese is stronger but hey, cinemas sell those, if you don’t like, tell cinemas to stop selling them. People don’t go there to just watch a film. They go there to have a good day, including letting go of their diet and all. I don’t think he was necessarily rude in tone, but I do think he should have exercised discretion in when and how or even the need to voice his opinion.
If the guy was talking loudly over the phone (classic such as “I am in the cinema.. I mean I AM IN THE CINEMA… CINEMA…. CINEMAAAA”), or phone suddenly ringing, please punch that guy.
I almost wanted to punch the girl laughing hysterically at the sad death scene. And there was a time someone took of their shoes, like as if the cinema is their sofa at home. Or some chilldren loudly saying “MOMMY WHAT IS HE SAYING?? MOMMY!!!! MOMMYYYYYYYYYYY”. Or even take a baby into cineme to watch Aliens Covenant.
Ben, just let it be. Other side may overreact and you end up in bad publicity. Even if you are in the right, it is a very small problem.
Oh great thing. I was watching A Quiet Place, almost couldn’t bring myself to munch on popcorn.
Wait! He was watching Infinity war right? That movie is so loud at every scene. Maybe the nacho munching guy was THAT loud.