The police investigation directly contradicts the only public statement Wu has released about Du’s date-rape allegation on his official Weibo account, China’s equivalent of Twitter, on July 19.
In the post, the 30-year-old singer said he only met Du once last December.
“I only saw Du once at a meeting of friends on December 5, 2020. I did not make [people] drink, didn’t confiscate anyone’s phone [...] I bear legal responsibility for all my words.”
On Friday, French fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton announced it has now terminated its relationship with Wu, a former member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo, who has been its brand ambassador since 2018. It suspended their ties earlier this week, saying it would wait for the results of the police investigation. Several other Chinese and global brands had earlier announced they had severed ties with Wu.
The police said they were still investigating allegations that Wu had date-raped other young women. “We will act later according to the results of the investigation. So far, we have not received any reports from Du [about Wu date-raping other women] or from other [women].”
In an interview with Chinese internet portal NetEase on July 18, Du, 18, claimed Wu had had sex with at least seven other girls, and that he had plied them with alcohol and seduced them with promises they would be famous.
The scandal meanwhile took a new twist when a man was arrested for seeking to swindle Wu over his relationship with Du.After Wu stopped replying to Du’s WeChat messages in April, posts on a Weibo account in Du’s name were published “in order to increase her online fame”, according to the police. It has now been revealed that more than 10 of those Weibo posts were not penned by Du but by people writing on her behalf.
A suspect surnamed Liu was arrested in Jiangsu province for trying to swindle 8 million yuan from Wu by assuming various fake online identities, including that of Du. Police traced various online transactions made to his account.
Public pressure on the rapper is growing over the date-rape scandal. Calling him “a failed idol with no talent or morals”. Ta Lang Qing Nian, a youth portal under Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, said Wu should withdraw from public life.
Professor Li Zhenlin, head of the film department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, told the Post disgraced artists would be thrown out of the entertainment industry in China. “It’s rare for them to have the opportunity to revive their careers [afterwards],” he said.
Given the number of scandals involving the entertainment industry, Li says the Chinese authorities should set up a job certification system for stars as they have done for other professions.
“Stars would have to undergo occupational training covering the rules and regulations of the industry to get the certificate. The certificate could be reviewed and renewed every three years. If stars engage in behaviour that breaches industry conventions, they could be blacklisted. For cases of serious misconduct, their certificates could be revoked,” Li says.
“When talent agencies and film companies are recruiting stars, they could check their certification to reduce the risks of taking on a certain star.”
Li adds that the way stars are paid in China should be reviewed to make them financially liable for reputational damage.
“The salary system should include a base salary, and extra earnings which constitute the bulk of their income. The extra earnings are calculated on the revenue generated by the works starring them. So if the works suffer financial losses, the stars would have no money [besides the base salary],” he says.
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