Brad Pitt Sends Message To China, Confuses People.

Brad Pitt has the whole country of China confused. Okay, maybe not the whole country. Just the ones who are on their version of Twitter.

And while nothing is as confusing as his Chanel Number 5 ad, things came pretty close when Pitt joined Sina Weibo — (that’s China’s twitter equivalent) and in his first message and caused an flurry of sorts with his first tweet. (I don’t know the Chinese equivalent of the word ‘tweet,’ so work with me for storytelling purposes.

After joining the service, Pitt posted a message reading: “It is the truth. Yup, I’m coming.”

Thousands of people commented speculating that Pitt would be paying a visit – but eyebrows started raising when some pointed out that Pitt was reportedly banned from entering the People’s Republic after his appearance in Seven Years in Tibet, which portrayed a less than flavorful portrayal of Chinese rule.

 Then, just hours later, the ‘tweet’ was deleted.

But can you ever truly ‘delete’ a ‘tweet’? Not if the train of speculation and gossip has already left the station. Entertainment Weekly notes that perhaps Pitt IS able to make the trip, pointing out that China has already lifted the ban on Seven Years in Tibet director Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Weibo has around 400 million registered accounts, but is censored – the company’s employees must go through posts to get rid of anything potentially insulting or offensive to government officials. (Although that policy is loosening slightly.) Twitter is blocked by Chinese censors entirely.