Brands Breaks Ties With Chinese Celebrity Kris Wu After Rape Allegation | China

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Chinese brands cut ties with Chinese-Canadian singer-actor Kris Wu after he was accused of rape by a student.

Wu rose to fame as a member of the South Korean boy band EXO. After leaving the group in 2014, he pursued a lucrative acting, modeling and singer career in China.

In an interview with Chinese news portal NetEase on Sunday, Du Meizhu, 19, accused the 30-year-old pop star of raping her when she was 17. She also said that Wu had sex with at least seven other girls under the age of 20. the age of 18, seducing them with alcohol and promises of fame.

These include two still underage people who don’t want their lives disrupted but want him punished, Du said.

Wu, who also holds Canadian citizenship and grew up between Vancouver and Guangzhou, has denied the allegations on social media.

I only met Miss Du once at a meeting of friends, I did not spray her with alcohol. I have never coerced women into having sex or rape, he wrote on Monday, adding that he did not have sex with underage girls. His studio said it has taken legal action against the accuser.

National skin care brand Kans, music streaming platform Yunting and household detergent maker Libai have announced that they will sever all ties with Wu. The singer holds several lucrative advertising deals with foreign luxury brands.

My life has definitely been ruined, Du said. Although I only slept with Wu, the public has long thought I damaged property, she wrote in a Weibo post with over 7.3 million likes.

Du, who said she wanted justice for the other alleged victims, gave Wu an ultimatum to leave the Chinese entertainment industry within 24 hours and publicly apologize.

The legal age for sexual consent in China is 14.

The allegations sparked a surge of solidarity from Chinese women, with Weibo’s hashtag helping girls gain more than 130 million views by Monday.

The interview with the hashtags Du Meizhu and Du Meizhu requires Wu Yifan to announce that he is quitting the entertainment industry and gained 1.8 billion and 440 million views respectively on the Twitter-like platform.

During China’s #MeToo movement, sparked by feminist activists in 2018, a handful of public figures fell from grace after allegations of sexual harassment, giving women the courage to voice their experiences of sexual assault online to the first time.

But activists say China’s opaque legal system often makes it difficult to find justice.

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