Do we like Jason Statham?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record with one real stain: a 2018 slur allegation he apologised for without remembering it, and no pattern of harm since.
Jason Statham was a diver before he was a hard man. He was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, was on the British Olympic team at the 1988 Seoul Games, and stayed in the national squad for about a decade. When results dried up he went into modelling and background dancing.
Then came the break. Guy Ritchie had heard about Statham's past as a street seller of fake perfume and stolen jewellery, and cast him in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with no acting experience. That led to Snatch, The Transporter, Crank, The Expendables and the Fast and Furious films. Statham still credits Ritchie, saying he started his career almost 30 years ago and that he owes him a lot.
The stain is from 2018. The Blast reported allegations that Statham repeatedly used an anti-gay slur in an argument with his producing partner on the 2015 set of Wild Card. A consultant reportedly claimed to have recorded it. Statham said he had never heard the tape and had no recollection of making the comments, but apologised if he had said them.
Out called that apology lacklustre and questioned how someone could forget a rant like that. That is fair, and it is why this isn't a clean pass. The recording was never made public, so it stays an allegation and not a proven fact. We also found nothing since: no campaigning against trans people, no conspiracy theories, no run of films with the culture-war crowd.
On the planet and public health, the searches turned up nothing from him at all. A viral claim about him and a Palestine flag was also reported as false by a fact-check, so we've ignored it. His recent slate is mainstream action: Shelter in January, Mutiny in August and a David Leitch comedy in the works.
The good-person side is a pass by absence. There are no lawsuits against him and no accounts of him being a nightmare on set. We couldn't verify any charity work from a reputable outlet, so we won't invent a halo.