Hong Kong – Former Miss Hong Kong winner Grace Chan has come under fire after a moviegoer accused her of failing to control her three young sons during a screening of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at a cinema in Admiralty on July 30. The incident, detailed in a viral social media thread, has reignited debate about celebrity parenting and cinema etiquette.
The complaint, posted on the platform Threads, described a disruptive experience during the 1:40 p.m. showing at the MM Plus theater. The user wrote that three children in Row E “kept talking, laughing, and shouting throughout the entire movie,” despite repeated attempts by nearby audience members to quiet them. The parent, later identified as Chan, allegedly did not intervene. “When the lights came up, I realized the mother was Grace Chan. As a public figure, she doesn’t even know basic cinema manners,” the poster said, adding, “If you can’t teach your kids, don’t have them.”
However, a second viewer who attended the same screening offered a conflicting account. That user claimed the children were “not as bad as described” and were actually “quite well-behaved.” They added that after the film ended, Chan’s child ran toward a woman who had reportedly poured something onto the child’s head. A bystander reportedly handed tissues, and a cinema employee was called to help locate the woman. The second viewer did not identify the alleged perpetrator.
Other commenters noted the irony that the original poster recognized Chan’s children but not Chan herself. “You go to the cinema to watch a movie or to stare at kids? That’s creepy,” one user wrote. Another revived a past complaint: “I once coached her three kids on skateboarding. They were extremely naughty and rude, with no basic manners. I was shocked that a celebrity’s children could be so ill-mannered.”
Chan, a former Miss Hong Kong champion who married actor Kevin Cheng in 2018, has since built a lucrative career as a social media influencer and mother-of-three. She regularly posts family content on Instagram. As of press time, she had not updated her social media or responded to the controversy.
The episode highlights growing public scrutiny of celebrities’ parenting in public spaces, particularly in Hong Kong where cinema etiquette is often a point of contention. With the film industry already struggling to draw audiences back to theaters, some netizens argue that disruptive behavior—whether from children or adults—further discourages moviegoers.
No formal complaint has been lodged with authorities, and the cinema manager has not commented. Chan’s next social media post will likely draw close attention as the story continues to unfold.
