Shannon Lee is reflecting on the life that was “too brief but beautiful and vital” for her brother Brandon, who passed away.
On Friday, Brandon Lee’s sister shared a heartfelt message with fans to commemorate the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her brother’s loss, which occurred on the set of The Crow.
In a video message that was shared on the official Twitter page of her famed father Bruce Lee, Shannon remarked in the message, “I cannot believe it has been 30 years.” “But, here is what I have to say: His beauty, his spirit, his brilliance, and his creativity are still very much alive with us, right here with us. This year, as well as every year coming ahead, we are going to be brainstorming other ways to commemorate him and put him even more into the forefront of people’s minds.”
After that, Shannon said, “Brandon, we adore you.” “We think about you all the time. And today, we honor the life you’ve lived. This is how today is going to go.”
“This is a celebration of your life, which was filled with so much splendor. Unfortunately, brief, yet lovely and significant in its content. We think about you often. Please keep Brandon in your thoughts today. Participate in the celebration of his life.”
The video message began with an archive interview with Brandon, in which he discussed his journey traveling to the Tassajara Buddhist monastery. This was followed by a transition to Shannon’s message, which was shown on the screen.
An inquiry was started after Lee’s loss, which occurred on the set of The Crow and was caused by a co-star firing an item from a prop pistol at Lee. The incident was the direct cause of Lee’s loss. In the end, the prosecutor who was assigned to the case decided not to file any charges against the production firm that was responsible for The Crow.
Throughout his lifetime, Lee appeared in several movies, some of the most notable of which include Laser Mission (1989), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) starring Dolph Lundgren, and Rapid Fire (1992).
On July 20th, it will have been fifty years since the famed patriarch of the Lee family, Bruce, passed away at the age of 32.
In the years that followed Brandon’s passing, Shannon has been an advocate for gun safety measures in the film industry. Most notably, she lent her support to an editorial published in January by the Los Angeles Times that called for the prohibition of guns on movie sets in the wake of the Rust shooting.
The post that Shannon made on Instagram in which she shared the editorial appeared just a few days after it was reported that Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin would be charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting loss of film cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October of 2021. “Having thoughts of Brandon. I pray that nothing like this ever happens again, “Shannon sent the following message along with a screenshot of the editorial.
The editorial board said in the paragraph that Lee supplied that “the idea is that no one needs to use any type of gun on a movie or TV set,” and they emphasized this point. “Even though unintentional shootings like these are fortunately uncommon, there are still far too many factors that need to go perfectly to ensure that nothing horrifically wrong occurs.”
In the early aftermath of the incident in Rust, Shannon also talked with The Hollywood Reporter about how the loss of Hutchins was “raising a lot of emotions and frustrations” for her. She said that she was angry and upset about the situation. She said, “There are regulations that are meant to be observed,” and I quote: “There are expectations.” “I am not in any way blaming anybody else for what happened because doing so would be the inappropriate thing to do.”
“Yet, there is no explanation for why anything of this kind might occur. My thoughts and prayers are with Alec Baldwin at this time. I have compassion for the effort that he is going to have to put in to digest this and look for some semblance of peace about it “Lee continued. “And much more so for the Hutchins family, which belongs to Halyna. It’s like having everything in your universe turn upside down. It’s important to have sympathy for the suffering that everyone is going through right now.”
At the time, Lee agreed that real guns should be banned from film sets in Hollywood. She also expressed her desire for “meaningful change” and stated that “in this day and age, with all the special effects that are possible and all the technology, there is no reason to have a prop gun or a gun on a set that can fire a projectile of any sort.”