Following are news round-up of Edison Chen, Gillian Chung, Cecilia Cheung, Bobo Chan, Maggie Q and several other’s Hong Kong sex scandal for 13th February 2008.
The news contain in this post are as follows:
* Netizen Public Response to Gillian Chung Press Conference
* Hongkong star Edison Chen in suicide bid claim
* Edison Chen to Face Media This Week
* Gillian Chung Statement vs Edison Chen Attempt for Sympathy
Netizen Public Response to Gillian Chung Press Conference
For the first time since the Edison Chen photographs appeared on the Internet, Gillian Chung made a public appearance before the press. She made a statement but did not take any questions.
Gillian Chung began by saying Happy New Year to those present. She said that this incident has caused great distress and hurt to herself and those around her.
She admitted to being very naïve and very stupid before, but she has now grown up. She expressed her gratitude towards the company, her family and her friends for their concern and support.
She apologized for the effect of the affair on society at large. In the future, she will continue to work hard and live actively. Finally, she thanked the media for their concern and the fans who never abandoned her.
Did anyone coach her on the script? How can she say that she had been “very naïve, very stupid” (很天真,很傻) before? This phrase is likely to become the second Internet pop phrase of the year.
She can use any other words to express the same idea, but not with two “very’s.” This is because the first Internet pop phrase of the year was the now famous “Very Yellow, Very Violent”. How can anyone fail to draw that analogy?
The Internet forum response has been quite negative. Throughout her statement, there was no description of what the affair was about.
The netizens did not take kindly towards her description of being “very naïve, very stupid.”
People pointed to the KY jelly in the background of one of her photographs and asked: “If she had been ‘very naïve, very stupid’ at the time when she was using KY jelly in a hotel room, then what is she doing now that she has grown up?”
Why is the Internet forum public so hostile towards Gillian Chung this time? When photographs of her changing in the dressing room appeared in EasyFinder magazine in August 2006, the public was overwhelmingly on her side.
But the tide appeared to have swung the other way around. One reason was that her company Emperor Entertainment Group had claimed initially that the photographs were computer modifications.
When more photographs appeared, EEG went silent and refused to comment on the grounds that there was an ongoing police investigation.
Even at today’s press conference, EEG stated that the company and all its artistes will decline comment in the future in the interest of not causing more social harm.
The Internet forum users consider Gillian Chung and EEG evasive.
The more significant reason is captured in this comment by the Those Were The Days blogger:
The privacy of an artiste is clearly different from that of a public servant. The private life of a public servant may affect his job performance.
For example, when a politician cheats on his wife, the public may begin to doubt his character.
Therefore, the public and the media have cause to be concerned about the private lives of public figures.
Meanwhile, the artistes only have to be concerned about their singing and acting, because their private lives do not affect their job performance.
The public and the media should not be exposing and judging the private lives of artistes.
That might be correct in general, but things are different in Hong Kong.
European and American artistes are selling their singing/acting abilities and not their moral conduct and character. I have not seen any European and American artistes who would leverage positions on pre-marital sex, chastity and multiple sex partners to package their images.
European and American artistes, especially those in rock ‘n roll music, are notorious for being licentious and involved in drug abuse.
But they don’t need to disguise that because they are selling their singing and not any saintly image.
In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, some artistes have become upholders of morality.
They criticize the media for being very yellow and very violent; they preach morality; they say that this or that magazine should not have published something or the other because corrupts young people; they describe themselves as clean, self-respecting and pure beyond belief.
In recent years, the government likes to appoint these artistes as their youth ambassadors on account of their influence among young people.
So these artistes are happily shaking hands with Donald Tsang or participating in a national day gala festival in Beijing.
Do they realize that they are longer just artistes anymore? If they want to be pure artistes, then they should not be staking out moral positions, or acting as government spokespersons, or engaging in politics.
If they do so, they must be prepared to sacrifice their privacy and restrict their own private lives because they are now public figures.
For example, if an American movie star supports the Republican Party, then the fact that she once had an abortion cannot be just waved away as a “private matter.”
In this affair, the citizens and netizens are reacting strongly because certain artistes have been behaving as more than artistes.
They are using every means to criticize any negative information and reports about them.
They are setting themselves at the highest moral point in order to criticize everybody else as immoral. Why else would the citizens and netizens call the artistes (藝人) as fake people (偽人)?
A while ago, the former wife of a hairdresser wrote a book that exposed the private affair between her husband and an actress.
But the media and the public showed no interest and the story could not even make the local news page. Why? Because the actress was just an artiste!
Who cares about her private life? If you don’t live in Hong Kong, if you don’t understand popular sentiments in Hong Kong and if you don’t know what has been happening before this, you cannot understand why people feel this way now about this affair.
In August 2006, EasyFinder published photographs of Gillian Chung changing her clothes in a dressing room.
In the ensuing press conference, Gillian Chung spoke of wanting to die and never being able to face young people again.
The photographs back then revealed nothing except her armpit. At today’s press conference, Gillian Chung was beaming with confidence.
The photographs now revealed just about everything of her. It is hard not to notice the incongruence.
Hongkong star Edison Chen in suicide bid claim
HONG KONG heartthrob Edison Chen has reportedly attempted suicide after partially nude images of him with several starlets started circulating in the Internet.
China Press said yesterday that the singer-actor became depressed over the issue and avoided food lately.
He had also reportedly confined himself to his home in the United States, where he fled to after the controversy erupted.
The daily said Chen’s image hit rock bottom after the scandal came to light. Several companies which had sought Chen’s endorsement for their products have also terminated their contracts with the star.
Edison Chen to Face Media This Week
Edison Chen, the only male celebrity to be implicated by the scandal, will return to Hong Kong to face the media this week, his management confirmed today.
Ms Leung, of East Asia Music, said that Edison will arrive back in Hong Kong on Thursday or Friday.
She denied that he had left the country to avoid the fallout from the scandal. Edison is supposedly going to help police catch the insider who is releasing the photos.
Anthony Wong Chau Sang, Edison’s godfather, said that Edison will return to Hong Kong soon to help the police to catch the “crazy man” who is leaking the sex photos.
He commented that Edison did not run away and had, long before the scandal started, planned to return to Canada to visit family for Chinese New Year and then to go to America to visit girlfriend Vincy Yeung.
Today Hong Kong authorities caught the ninth suspect without Edison’s help. There have been protests in the streets, and complaints that Edison is just as guilty as the suspects who have been caught.
There are also complaints that the people involved are getting a free pass because they are celebrities.
Miriam Yeung, who made an appearance yesterday at a Chinese New Year event at Harbour City as guest of honour,
and is Edison Chen’s godsister, said she had been sending text messages of support, but did not wish to comment on the scandal.
As for suggestions that her name will also appear on the list of female celebrities involved in the scandal,
Miriam said that she did not want to comment any further and with the scandal bringing down the general morality in society, she did not want to perpetuate the reports any further.
When reporters asked if her parents had questioned her about the incident, she said that her mother trusts her completely and she has her own integrity, so after 12 years in the industry, she has no need to explain herself.
Nat Chan, Bobo Chan’s former boss, said that he had not called her when the scandal hit the news, but said that he was quite worried about her situation.
As for suggestions that her engagement had been cancelled as a result of the scandal, Nat refused to comment.
The suspected nude pictures of artistes have surface for over two weeks. One of the victims Gillian Chung chooses to stand up and face the crowd to make a statement.
Yesterday, Twins and their fans in a CNY greetings function.
It is also the grandest in scale. Only 200 fans were at the function but 300 reporters and other people were present.
Also the EEG family was present at the function. Boss Albert Yeung and Twins’ “younger siblings” were there to silently support them.
Yesterday, Gillian’s press conference was held at 2:15 pm. Actually Gillian and Charlene Choi arrived early at the location. They were at the CNY greeting function with their fans around 1 pm (private, no press allowed in).
All the exits and entrances were bursting with press. Some fans who were a bit late could not gain entrance to the function. Albert Yeung and his wife arrived around 2 o’clock.
They were lead by their bodyguards to the function location. Albert did not respond to the endless bombardment of questions about his view on Gillian.
At the function, Twins and their fans played games and sang songs. Gillian was composed and would laugh with Charlene. They were very involved in the game play.
Off stage, besides their fans, the entire EEG was there.
Albert Yeung and his wife, Don Li, Deep Ng, Vincy Chan, Yumiko Cheng, Mandy, Ken Hung, Sherman Chung and others.
These supporters appeared intense and serious which was the opposite of the Twins’ ease on stage. At the end of the function, Charlene made a statement representing Twins.
She thanked the fans and said: “Thank-you everyone for coming. We hope that everyone will be happy and most importantly healthy this year.”
The fans lifted up banners to support Twins. Besides the usual “Support You Forever”, there was a specially made “We Will Always Support You”.
At the press conference, Gillian made a statement which was only two minutes in length. The fans applauded for encouragement.
At the end of the press conference, all the EEG artistes were protected because the press was not allowed to be close to them.
EEG made a public statement which said the incident has created a lot of torment and hurt for the victims.
All the artistes, including Gillian, will not respond to this incident at any press conferences. EEG artistes received their order to keep their mouth shut.
The artistes left in groups after the press conference. Some left by cars directly to avoid reporter’s questions. Deep left via the main entrance but he was in between workers so he did not respond to the reporter’s questions.
Gillian Chung Statement vs Edison Chen Attempt for Sympathy
Under EEG’s arrangement, Gillian Chung personally made a statement about the suspected nude pictures of artistes. Compared to Edison’s pre-taped statement, Gillian had more sincerity which wins her support from the entertainment ciricle!
Approach
Edison: His lawyers distributed a pre-taped video clip, 1:23 minutes in length.
Gillian: Personally making a statement to +100 reporters. Her statement length was approximately 2 minutes long.
Appearance
Edison: Lame t-shirt. Didn’t really pay attention to his hair. It created a drab and dreary feeling.
Gillian: Long straight hair which is a different hairstyle which appeared in the pictures. It was to prevent association with the pictures.
Emotion
Edison: Black eyes and unshaven. Unsuccessful businessman look.
Gillina: She had makeup on and was smiling to people. She seem to be in high spirits.
Speech
Edison: English script. Emotionless like reading from a book.
Gillian: Used Cantonese and emotionally expressive.
Location
Edison: A dimly lit room. A grey-white background which makes the location mysterious.
Gillian: At the hotel/restaurant where her fans gathering were held. The location was bright and open. The atmosphere was warm and lively.
