Luxury brands drop Chinese star held for hiring sex workers

BEIJING: Global brand names including Prada and Remy Martin have got cut ties with Chinese superstar Li Yifeng, after the actor or actress was detained with regard to soliciting sex workers.

Li becomes the latest within a line of artists to get themselves in lawful trouble recently, since the government cracks upon China’s entertainment sector, stepping up efforts in order to rein in what this calls “chaotic fan culture” and celebrity excess.

State media stated Li, 35, acquired recently been detained and charged by police in Beijing for “soliciting prostitution upon multiple occasions”, and had allegedly confessed.

Global and local brands including high-class fashion house Prada, watchmaker Panerai and French cognac creator Remy Martin issued statements on Weekend (Sep 11) stating they had dropped Li as their brand ambassador following the scandal.

The actor, which played revolutionary innovator Mao Zedong in a 2021 biopic to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, is very popular, with more than sixty million followers upon China’s Twitter-like system Weibo.

Only last month, he or she was on the catwalk in Beijing showcasing Prada’s fall 2022 collection.

A spate of scams in recent months have taken down China’s biggest entertainers including singer Kris Wu, who was imprisoned on suspicion associated with rape last Aug.

Actress Zheng Shuang was hit with an US$46 mil tax evasion great last year.

Within September last year, officials ordered broadcasters to shun performers along with “incorrect political positions”, and to cultivate a patriotic atmosphere.

“We solemnly call on the vast number associated with TV art workers to regard morality and art as their life’s homework, inch the China Tv Artists Association said in a statement on Monday.

“No matter what achievements you have made… if you don’t keep yourself thoroughly clean… the so-called popularity will disappear, and the so-called future will be ruined, ” this warned.