Do we like Tony Jaa?
Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up and there's a real elephant cause on his record, but the public record on his views is thin.
Tony Jaa is the Thai action star who made his name doing his own stunts, no wires and no tricks. He grew up in Surin, in Thailand's north-east, around elephants, and that childhood still shapes the causes he backs.
The big scandal on his file is really a corporate stoush. In 2015 the Thai studio Sahamongkol alleged his role in Furious 7 breached a contract with it, and a Civil Court injunction stopped the film's Thai release for a time. The studio claimed 1.6 billion baht from Jaa, Universal and the local distributor.
It fizzled. The studio's boss dropped the suit in July 2015, and no court ever ruled against Jaa. ScreenAnarchy described the case as having come whimpering to an end. The Nation reported the studio head saying he wanted Jaa to work without worry, and no reporting we opened quotes Jaa on the fight.
On the harm check, we looked for anything he has said about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the planet, and for any slide into grievance or conspiracy talk. Nothing turned up in what we read. We also found no sign he is mixed up with anyone pushing that stuff. That's a clean sheet, but also a quiet one, because he is not a man who gives opinions on the culture wars.
The good stuff is the elephants. In 2016 he fronted the Ivory Free Thailand campaign with WildAid and WWF-Thailand, alongside the national football coach, urging people to stop buying ivory. He drew on growing up around elephants in Surin to make the case.
Nothing new on him lately that bears on this question, so there's no fresh mess to report. What exists is a decent, modest record, with no harmful words and one useful cause. We'd happily keep rewatching the old fight scenes.