Chinese actor Wang Yibo refutes allegations against him after arrest of actor Li Yifeng
BEIJING – Chinese actor Wang Yibo’s agency has issued a denial after nasty talk about him surfaced in the wake of the scandal over Chinese actor Evan Li Yifeng, who was arrested recently for soliciting prostitutes.
Around noon on Tuesday, Yue Hua Entertainment agency posted a letter on microblogging site Weibo to slam those who had spread rumours about Wang, 25.
“The online rumours about Mr Wang Yibo, such as those claiming he is a ‘sex worker’, ‘soliciting prostitutes’ and being a ‘kept man’, are defamatory,” it said. “Mr Wang abides by the law and does not know Li at all.”
The agency urged netizens to stop circulating false rumours about The Untamed (2019) star and warned those who have done so to delete the comments immediately.
It said it filed a police report on Tuesday and would be appointing lawyers on the same day to file a case with the court to protect Wang’s reputation.
Wang is among the popular Chinese celebrities allegedly linked to Li’s misdeeds after Beijing police said on Sunday that it had detained a 35-year-old actor with the surname Li for soliciting prostitutes on numerous occasions.
While the police did not identify Li by his full name, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) later confirmed that the actor is Evan Li.
News of Li’s detention began spreading early this month when he did not turn up for a scheduled promotional event in Hangzhou on Sept 2.
The actor, who is known for his roles in television serials such as Swords Of Legends (2014) and Fearless Whispers (2020), then seemed to appear in a live broadcast, claiming he was unable to attend the event due to pandemic control measures.
He also shared a post from China’s official People Daily on the Sichuan earthquake on Sept 5, hoping for the residents’ safety.
Claims that he had been detained reached fever pitch last Saturday, when he was dropped from the list of celebrities who would be performing on CCTV’s Mid-Autumn Festival Gala.
Chinese netizens also discovered that China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate had removed the Weibo posts of Li as its ambassador.
More than 10 global and Chinese brands, including Italian luxury fashion house Prada and French cognacmaker Remy Martin, dropped Li as their ambassador after his arrest.
China’s Huading Awards also rescinded the two prizes awarded to him in 2017.
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