Worldwide brands including Prada and Remy Matn have cut connections with Chinese superstar Li Yifeng, following the actor was held for soliciting intercourse workers.
Li becomes the latest in a line of musicians to find themselves in legal trouble recently, as the government splits down on China’s entertainment industry, stepping up initiatives to rein about what it calls “chaotic lover culture” and celebrity extra.
State media said Li, 35, had recently been detained and charged simply by police in Beijing for “soliciting prostitution on multiple occasions”, and had allegedly confessed.
Global and local brands including luxury fashion house Prada, watchmaker Panerai and French cognac maker Remy Matn issued statements on Sunday (Sep 11) saying they had fallen Li as their brand name ambassador following the scandal.
The actor or actress, who played groundbreaking leader Mao Zedong in a 2021 biopic to mark the centenary of the Chinese language Communist Party, can be hugely popular, exceeding 60 million followers on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo.
Only last month, he was around the catwalk in Beijing showcasing Prada’s fall 2022 collection.
A spate associated with scandals in recent months took down China’s greatest entertainers including vocalist Kris Wu, who was arrested on suspicion of rape last August.
Actress Zheng Shuang has been hit with an US$46 million tax evasion fine last year.
In September last year, officials ordered tv producers to shun artists with “incorrect politics positions”, and to develop a patriotic environment.
“We solemnly call on the multitude of TV art workers to respect morality and art as their life’s research, ” the Tiongkok Television Artists Association said in a statement on Monday.
“No matter what achievements you have made… if you don’t stay clean… the alleged fame will vanish, and the so-called long term will be ruined, inch it warned.