Sing! China series halted over alleged mistreatment of late singer Coco Lee
HANGZHOU – Embattled reality singing show Sing! China has been taken off the air after facing strong pressure from the public.
Zhejiang Television, which broadcasts the show, made the announcement in a short statement on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Friday morning.
“In view of the issues raised by the viewers and netizens on Sing! China which are being investigated, the broadcast of the show has been put on hold,” it said.
The stock value of Star CM Holdings, the producer of Sing! China, plunged by as much as 14 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday, according to Bloomberg News. The latest plunge took Star CM’s loss in August to 55 per cent, on track to be its biggest drop since its debut in December.
Bloomberg said Star CM lost about US$3.4 billion (S$4.6 billion) in market value during a three-day rout last week sparked by Lee’s audio clip.
The latest season of Sing! China, which began airing on July 28, features Taiwan-based singer Wakin Chau, Taiwanese singer Will Pan, Chinese singer Joker Xue and Canadian singer Henry Lau as celebrity coaches.
The popular singing competition has come under intense scrutiny since a nine-minute audio clip of late Hong Kong-American singer Coco Lee complaining about being mistreated on the series went viral on Chinese social media last Thursday.
Lee – who died aged 48 on July 5 – was a celebrity coach on Sing! China in 2022, replacing Chinese baritone Liao Changyong midway into the show.
In the clip, Lee said a contestant with 77 marks was given a second chance, while her mentee Zhou Feige, with 88.3 marks, was not.
Lee made the same accusation in another video clip circulating on Weibo in September 2022, which showed her asking the directors angrily about the alleged unfairness of the judging system.
The late singer also claimed in the clip which went viral last Thursday that she was mistreated on the show after she had spoken out.
Lee, who was born with a defect in her left leg, said she had asked for Wang Zepeng, a contestant on her team who made it to the finale, to accompany her on stage on the last day of recording in October 2022. The production team had agreed to her request.
But Wang was instead cued away to the other side of the stage, leaving Lee to sing without physical support. She reportedly fell midway into the performance.
Lee went for major surgery on her left leg in February 2023. She shared on social media in March a video of her learning to walk again after the operation.
Her audio clip sparked increasing calls from many Chinese netizens for a boycott of Sing! China or the cancellation of the show. Two former contestants also slammed the show on social media, although they took down their posts later and one of them apologised for making “unsubstantiated” allegations.
Zhejiang Media Group, which owns Zhejiang Television, reacted to the uproar with a statement on Sunday night. It acknowledged that Sing! China may have fallen short of the expectations of viewers and would investigate the issues raised.
Veteran Cantopop singer Jenny Tseng, who has been criticising Sing! China on Facebook almost daily since last Saturday, wrote on Friday afternoon that she wept on learning of the suspension of the show.
“It’s to your credit,” she wrote, likely referring to those who had helped spread the message. “Long live the voice of justice.”
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