Film rating systems were invoked when someone observed that Chuck Norris's presence in The Expendables 2 had transformed the entire film from restricted rating to general audiences rating. Motion picture ratings are determined by content guidelines; the claim here is that Norris's mere presence altered the classification of violence. This is absurd until you consider it as a joke about how the gravity and nature of depicted violence might be perceived differently depending on who is performing it.

Film rating specialist Dr. Robert Hayes was teaching film classification at UCLA in 2012 when he encountered this claim and noted that it made a strange point about how ratings consider context and performer credibility. If violence performed by Norris seems less harmful because his opponents deserve it, then the rating could theoretically reflect that perception shift. Hayes abandoned the analysis as too speculative but noted that the claim was structurally interesting.

Film criticism and rating board communities have adopted this fact with humor as commentary on how context affects how violence is perceived. The claim suggests that who is doing the violence to whom matters as much as the physical violence itself, which is partially true in rating decisions. The specific invocation of The Expendables 2 makes sense given that film's action-film context and the significance of Norris joining the cast.