You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (January 2023)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Date | July 8, 2021 |
---|---|
Location | China |
Type | Rape, Licentious activities |
Target | Du Meizhu [a] and two other female victims |
Outcome |
|
In 2022, Chinese Canadian singer and actor Kris Wu was found guilty of rape and assembling a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities in China, a year after beauty influencer Du Meizhu accused him of raping her and other women and girls. [1] Wu denied the accusations at the time. [2]
On July 31, 2021, Wu was detained by the Beijing police on suspicion of rape. On November 25, 2022, Wu was convicted in a Chinese court on two charges: raping "three drunken women" in his home in the months of November and December 2020, and having sexual activities in a group, with two other women in his home on July 1, 2018. [3] The court imposed a fixed term of 13 years after considerations of 11.5 years in prison for the first charge, and one year and ten months for the second charge, to be followed by deportation from China. [3] [4] [5] He was also fined CN¥600 million (approximately $84 million USD) for tax evasion. [4] [6] Wu appealed in court. On November 24, 2023, the appeal was rejected. [7]
Wu Yifan, known professionally as Kris Wu, was born in China in 1990. He migrated to Vancouver, Canada at 10 with his mother after his parents divorced. [8] After a brief return to China, Wu stayed in Canada until his late teenage years. In 2007, he took part in SM Entertainment's global auditions held in Vancouver. He was selected as a trainee and traveled in 2008 to Seoul, where he received training for four years.
Wu debuted with EXO in 2012 but left the group in 2014 to become a solo artist focused on music and acting in China. He starred in several Chinese films and television dramas and became a spokesperson for international brands including Louis Vuitton and Porsche. [9]
On July 8, 2021, Du Meizhu, a beauty influencer, accused Wu of sexual misconduct in a post on Weibo. [10] She accused Wu of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 and a student at the Communication University of China. [11] She also uploaded screenshots of messages from alleged victims who have said they were lured into playing drinking games and spending the night with Wu. [10]
Wu's agency denied the accusations and said the screenshots were faked. It said it would file a police report and a defamation suit against Du. [10] The police initially dismissed the accusations and said Du was a fame-seeker. [12]
Du then claimed that she was paid hush money by Wu's agency but then decided to speak out two years later. [13] Du also included in another post that there were more instances of Wu getting women drunk and then raping them. She later said that she was not the first nor the last victim, after more women (including two minors) reached out to her to share similar experiences of being lured by Wu. [14] [11]
On August 8, 2021, an alleged underage victim from Los Angeles shared her story of attending one of Wu's drinking parties. She told her lawyer, "It's an open secret that he [Wu] selects concubines among international students." She allegedly saw this first-hand when Wu's assistant invited her to a gathering, where the girls had to turn in their phones beforehand to prevent photos and videos from being recorded. [15]
Below are some of the accusations from Du's Weibo posts:
After Du was interviewed by NetEase, a major news portal, her allegations gained further attention. [16] [11]
On his personal Weibo account, Wu denied supplying Du with alcohol, enticing girls to have sex with him in return for benefits, raping them while they were unconscious, or having sex with minors. [14]
According to a statement released by Beijing Chaoyang Police dated July 21, 2021, using the reason of selecting a female lead for an upcoming music video, Kris Wu's manager arranged for Du Meizhu to attend a party on December 5, 2020 at about 11 p.m. with ten other people. The party wore on to 7 am the following day with the participants playing table games and drinking alcoholic beverages. When the party ended, among the guests, only Du remained in Wu's house. Du and Wu then engaged in sexual activity. Thereafter Du had her lunch at Wu's house before exchanging her contact details with him and leaving in the afternoon. On December 8, 2020, Wu transferred CN¥32,000 to her account. [19] In June 2021, after discussing with her friend, surnamed Liu, Du posted about Wu's way of picking up girls to gain popularity online. Liu then used an Weibo account to accuse Wu of raping Du. Between July 8 and July 11, Du published three more posts. On July 13, an online writer, surnamed Xu, wanting to gain some reputation, reached out to Du. Following a discussion between them, he wrote ten articles posted successively since July 16 under Du's Weibo account. [19] The police started the investigations in response to online allegations, while had yet to receive any police reports from the purported victims. [20]
On July 18, 2021, Liu Tiaotiao (刘迢迢), a scammer, was arrested in Nantong, Jiangsu after he tried to cheat money from Wu's mother and Du by pretending to be involved parties. Liu first pretended to be a female on WeChat to gain information from Du, which was then used to demand CN¥3 million from Wu's lawyer in the form of a settlement. He also pretend to be Wu's lawyer in order to negotiate with Du for a settlement. On July 11, Wu's mother transferred CN¥500,000 to Du's bank account. Liu Tiaotiao then tried to extract the remaining CN¥2.5 million from Wu's lawyer while impersonating Du. Liu Tiaotiao would also impersonate Wu's lawyer to have Du sign a settlement agreement or otherwise return the CN¥500,000, indicating his own bank account as the destination. Du would transfer CN¥180,000 to Liu Tiaotiao's account. [19] On July 22, 2021, A netizen by the name of Wushiyanghao (乌市杨昊) who claimed himself a neighbour of Du Meizhu in Inner Mongolia was arrested by the Ulanhot Police on the charge of defamation. [21]
On July 31, 2021, Wu was detained by the Beijing Chaoyang District police on suspicion of rape after allegedly "repeatedly seducing young women into having sex". [11] [22] After the detainment, various government media outlets such as the publications People's Daily and Legal Daily, and broadcaster CCTV sought to drive the message that foreign citizenship or fame are not protections against the Chinese judiciary system. [17]
145 Weibo accounts were closed in August 2021 by the platform for publishing harmful information related to current affairs, defined as anything from "spreading rumors, disrupting state order and undermining social stability" to "publishing negative information that breaks the bottom line of social morality and the system." Some of these accounts were defending Wu over the rape allegations. [23] On August 16, 2021, Kris Wu was formally arrested over allegations of rape. [24]
On June 10, 2022, Chaoyang District People's Court tried the case behind closed doors. The trial was not made public to protect the privacy of the victims involved. [25] On November 25, 2022, the court reached a verdict. Kris Wu was convicted of raping three drunken women in his home between the months of November and December 2020. The court imposed a sentence of 11 years 10 months for this charge. The second charge was what Reuters described as "assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity" with two women in his home on 1 July 2018. The prison sentence of the second charge was one year and 10 months, followed by deportation from China. [26] At the same time, a fine of CN¥600 million for the tax evasion was imposed as well. [4]
On July 25, 2023, the appeal trial was held at the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing. The trial was held in private to protect the privacy of the victims involved. [27] The Canadian embassy was notified in advance, but its request to attend the appeal trial was denied by the Chinese authorities. [28] The appeal was rejected on November 24, 2023 in the presence of Wu, his close relatives, and officials from the Canadian embassy. The court found that the evidence presented in the original trial was reliable and sufficient and that the application of law and his conviction were correct and legal. [29]
Wu's arrest came shortly after government body overseeing performing arts issued a new set of regulatory guidelines to regulate the behaviour of performers and celebrities, which require that they "love the motherland" and create art that "serves the people and socialism". [30]
On the evening of August 1, 2021, QQ Music and NetEase Music removed all of Kris Wu's music from the shelves. The official Weibo account of big-budget costume drama The Golden Hairpin, which stars Wu, deleted all posts related to him, leaving only a poster featuring the show's supporting characters. The Golden Hairpin, produced by Tencent Video, is Wu's first TV drama. Wu's account on the short video platform Douyin was also blocked and its followers have been removed, and his Weibo profile has been taken down due to "Complaints in violating the rules and regulations of Weibo's Community Convention". [31]
Numerous companies have followed suit in ousting Wu: brand endorsement deals were ended; social media posts that featured him were removed, [2] and he was later blacklisted by several networks. Below is a non-exhaustive list of entities that have either condemned Wu or disassociated themselves from him:
In September 2014, the National Radio and Television Administration issued the "Notice of the National Radio and Television Administration Office on Strengthening the Management of the Production and Distribution of Radio and Television Programs, Film and TV Dramas, and Online Audio-visual Programs". Artists listed in this order are called "notorious" and could face permanent boycott from the industry. [36]
According to Article 236 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of rape refers to the act of using violence, coercion or other means against a woman's will to forcibly have sexual intercourse with her, or deliberately have sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of fourteen. Anyone who rapes a woman by violence, coercion or other means shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of no less than three years but no more than ten years. Whoever commits adultery with a girl under the age of fourteen shall be punished as severely as rape, up to the death penalty. Anyone who commits a joint offence by two or more persons shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years, life imprisonment or a death sentence. [37] In addition, according to the territorial principle, if the crime occurred in China, the same sentences apply regardless of the nationality of the offender. [38]
Because Wu is a Canadian citizen, a conviction by the judiciary of China makes him eligible for deportation from China, since according to Article 35 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, foreigners who commit crimes can face deportation. [39] Some publications pointed out that the Chinese-American lawyer Bao Yuming, who was previously convicted of "violating social ethics and public order and good customs" in his sexual assault case, was deported. [40]
Jing Tian is a Chinese actress. She graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy and Beijing Film Academy.
Wú is the pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳, which is a common surname in Mainland China. Wú (吳) is the sixth name listed in the Song dynasty classic Hundred Family Surnames. In 2019 Wu was the ninth most common surname in Mainland China. A 2013 study found that it was the eighth most common surname, shared by 26,800,000 people or 2.000% of the population, with the province having the most being Guangdong.
Liu Yifei is a Chinese-born American actress. She has appeared multiple times on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four Dan actresses of China by Tencent Entertainment in 2009. She is known for her roles in Chinese TV shows such as The Story of a Noble Family, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Chinese Paladin, A Dream of Splendor, and The Tale of Rose. She became known to international audiences as the titular character in the Disney live-action film Mulan.
Wu Chin-yi, professionally known as Annie Yi or Annie Shizuka Inoh, is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and writer.
Wu Xin, also named Orfila, is a Chinese host and actress who is famous for co-hosting the TV game show Happy Camp which airs on Hunan Satellite TV with fellow hosts He Jiong, Xie Na, Du Haitao, and Li Weijia.
Wu Yi Fan, known professionally as Kris Wu, is a Chinese Canadian former rapper and convicted serial rapist. He is a former member of South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo and its subgroup Exo-M under SM Entertainment, before leaving the group in 2014. Wu was active as a solo artist and actor in Mainland China, and had starred in several number-one box office hits including Mr. Six and Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, which are among the highest-grossing Chinese films of all time in China. He made his Hollywood debut in XXX: Return of Xander Cage.
Liu Xinyu is a Chinese ice dancer. With his skating partner, Wang Shiyue, he is the 2017 Asian Winter Games champion, 2018 CS Asian Open champion, 2015 Toruń Cup champion, and four-time Chinese national champions. They have competed in the final segment at four World Championships.
Gülnezer Bextiyar, also known by her pinyin transliteration name Gulinazha or its diminutive form Nazha, is a Chinese actress and model who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2011.
Wu Jing, also known as Jacky Wu, is a Chinese actor, martial artist and director of Manchu descent. He is best known for his roles in various martial arts films such as Tai Chi Boxer, Fatal Contact, the Sha Po Lang films, and as Leng Feng in Wolf Warrior, its sequel Wolf Warrior 2, and most recently The Battle at Lake Changjin. Wu Jing is one of the most profitable actors in China and his movies are often the highest grossed films in China. Wu ranked first on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2019 and 23rd in 2020.
Wu Lei, also known as Leo Wu, is a Chinese actor. He started appearing in commercials at the age of three. In 2007, he made his acting debut as Nezha in the series The Legend and the Hero. He is known for his supporting roles in Nirvana in Fire (2015) and The Whirlwind Girl (2015) and for his starring roles in Fight Breaks Sphere (2018), Tomb of the Sea (2018), The Long Ballad (2021), and Love like The Galaxy (2022). Wu ranked 63rd on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2017, 29th in 2019 and 47th in 2020.
Europe Raiders is a 2018 action thriller film directed by Jingle Ma, as the third film in his Raiders franchise, following Tokyo Raiders (2000) and Seoul Raiders (2006). The film was released on August 17, 2018. The movie's dialogue contains several lines of Klingon.
Wu Xuanyi, is a Chinese singer and actress. She began her career in 2016, as a member of the South Korean girl group WJSN. She took a hiatus from the group in the first half of 2018 to compete as a contestant in Tencent Video's survival reality show, Produce 101 China, finishing in second place and joining the Chinese project girl group Rocket Girls 101 until June 2020. Following the disbandment of the project group, she remained on hiatus from WJSN to pursue a solo career in China until she left the group on March 3, 2023.
Zhang Xincheng, also known by his English name Steven Zhang, is a Chinese actor. His first major role was that of Lin Yang in the campus web series My Huckleberry Friends (2017). Zhang is best known for his roles as Li Yubing in the sports drama Skate into Love and He Ziqiu in the family drama Go Ahead, both of which aired in 2020 and garnered him several awards for his work that year.
Canadian rapper Kris Wu has released one studio album, one extended play and twenty-two singles.
Chen Yufan is a Chinese actor and singer of the pop duo Yu Quan.
Zhao Jinmai is a Chinese actress. She is best known for her roles in the children's films Balala the Fairies: The Magic Trial (2014) and Balala the Fairies: Princess Camellia (2015), the sci-fi film The Wandering Earth (2019), and the drama series Growing Pain (2019), A Little Thing Called First Love (2019), Reset (2022) and Amidst a Snowstorm of Love (2024). She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2024.
Liu Yuxin, known in English as Xin Liu, is a Chinese singer, dancer and producer born in Guizhou Province. She rose to fame as the top contestant of iQiyi's survival reality program Youth With You 2, finishing first and becoming the center of the girl group The9.[1] In late 2021, Xin began her solo career. Her album "Epsilon" and "Xanadu" tops Chinese billboards. Xin is also the very first female captain of Street Dance of China.
The #MeToo movement emerged in China shortly after it originated in the United States. In mainland China, online MeToo posts were slowed by government censorship. On Weibo, #Metoo and #MetooinChina were both blocked for a period of time. To avoid the censorship, Chinese women using the #MeToo hashtag on social media began using bunny and bowl-of-rice emojis; "rice bunny" is pronounced mi-tu in Chinese. Feminist activist Xiao Qiqi originated the use of rice-bunny emojis for the movement. Another alternative is “River Crab” which indicates censorship. Generally, the #Metoo movement was only accessible to elite women and urban women.
Xu Ziyin, also known as Roada Xu, is a Chinese singer, songwriter, and actress under T Entertainment. She is best known for participating in the girl group survival shows Youth With You Season 2 and Girls Planet 999.
Wu Yixia is a Chinese politician who served as governor of Guizhou from 1996 to 1998. He was a representative of the 13th and 15th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. He was a member of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.