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Film company 20th Century Fox has apologized for a movie billboard after critics complained that the image promoted violence toward women.

The offending billboard, accompanying the release of  “X-Men: Apocalypse” last week, showed actor Oscar Isaac’s character Apocalypse choking Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique. Critics slammed the image, which in some cases had the caption ““Only the strong will survive,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film,” actress and filmmaker Rose McGowan said in a Facebook post to The Hollywood Reporter on May 25.

“There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid,” she wrote.

The studio did not defend its choice, instead bowing down to political correctness with an apology.

“In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form,” Fox said in a statement to the Reporter. “Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women.”

The backlash to the billboard image appears to contradict the liberal call for equality of the sexes, which apparently does not apply to fictitious mutant characters in a fantasy film. The fact that the hero of the movie is (spoiler alert) a woman who saves the X-Men from Apocalypse was lost on critics.

Social media users were not happy with Fox and the pointless posturing from the left as they let it be known that liberals cannot have it both ways.

@THR how do feminists expect women to be in action movies if they don’t like it when… you know… action happens?

— Uncuck America (@anonymousdorito) June 3, 2016

Fox apologizes for ‘X-Men’ billboard featuring Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique being strangled https://t.co/tAebfwv1Tx pic.twitter.com/2cdaNdZez5

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 3, 2016

@alexxxJohnss @THR maybe they should have put another billboard up.. but this happened in the movie sooooo… what is the problem?

— missy (@missygirl32) June 3, 2016

@THR Congratulations FOX, with your apology you’ve taken us one step closer to the actual apocalypse…

— Gregory Lay (@gregoryklay) June 3, 2016

@THR Yes FOX please apologize for making one of the most popular and dominant characters a female.

— Coaxed (@PhiloFiles) June 3, 2016

@THR Oh, FFS. Stop with the fainting couches. They’re mutants with superpowers.

— KeepCalmAndDrawl (@FormerlyFormer) June 3, 2016

@THR Disappointed that Fox had to apologize for this, It’s a scene from the movie. We got bigger issues in this country than this

— Fred Ramos (@Fr3derick82) June 3, 2016

y’all women want equality but when we start treating you like one of the guys you get all upset and pussy out @THR

— Rëál Äńįmē Gírl (@ModestLord) June 3, 2016

@THR #SJW ‘s even toddlers can tell the difference between a fictional evil Demi god choking a blue superhero & domestic violence #StopIt

— #FandomFracus (@wdpnBattleMage) June 3, 2016

@THR Fox now has changed the pic for political correctness. pic.twitter.com/EuS3i9SWcr

— Frank Luchs (@FrankLuchs) June 4, 2016

@THR
“MORE FEMALE SUPER HEROS! MORE FEMALE ACTION HEROS!”
(movie has women going toe to toe with men)
“NOO!!! STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!”

— Tizok (@PixelBuff) June 3, 2016

@THR this is stupid. Ppl want female superheroes, but dont want them getting in fights? Ppl should be pumped a female is lead protagonist

— Chris (@Tybalt262) June 3, 2016

@THR but women are equal…..right?

— Danny Gannon (@GannonTime) June 4, 2016

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Frieda Powers

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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