21 Feb – Brad Pitt's short appearance on Chinese social media Sina Weibo in January had created uproar in the social network, when he posted a sentence stating, "Yep, it is the truth. I am coming..." His comment and account was taken down soon after as quick as it was re-tweeted. THR.com speculated that the actor's short stint on Weibo was just an experiment by the actor to test the waters. Pitt has been banned from entering China since starring as the lead in "Seven Years In Tibet", when the Chinese authorities condemned the film for portraying China unfavourably.
Fellow actor David Thewlis and director Jean-Jacques Annaud were also banned although the latter was subsequently able to fly into China as part of the jury for the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2012. It is believed that Sina could have deactivated his account considering his past history with the Chinese government. When Pitt's post first appeared last month, it received 8,000 comments, was re-tweeted 20,000 times and attracted 73,000 fans within two hours.