Aftermath of Kris Wu’s Detainment: Wiped Off of Chinese Social Media, Backlash for Former Supporters, JJ Lin and Wilber Pan Getting Dragged into Rumors, and More

Content Warning: The following content may contain references to date rape, drugging, rape, and/or sexual assault.

On July 31, Kris Wu was criminally detained by the Beijing Chaoyang District Police for their ongoing investigation into the allegations that he “lured multiple young women into having sexual relations”. This all started back in June when Kris Wu was spotted by paparazzi reportedly renting out a movie theater for a date with an 18 year old internet celebrity. His studio denied the allegations saying the movie theater infringed on his privacy by releasing pictures and videos of him without his consent and manipulated the clips to not show him and other friends entering and exiting the venue.

The Beginning

These rumors set off a soon to be 19 year old college student, Du Meizhu, to accuse him of cheating on her and ghosting her. What ensued the following month was Du Meizhu declaring full on war accusing Kris Wu and his manager of conspiring under the guise of casting her to be the female lead of a music video, which led her to being allegedly drug raped by him. Du Meizhu also accused Kris Wu of doing the same thing to other underaged girls, including drug rape and gang rape accusations. During this time, other girls came forward with their interactions and experiences with Kris Wu, which sparked the popular “girls help girls” hot trend on Weibo at the time. Kris Wu denied the allegations and threatened to take legal action. He boldly said he would go to prison himself if he was found guilty of the accusations against him.

On July 22, the Beijing Chaoyang District Police released their initial investigation results into the allegations brought forth by Du Meizhu. They confirmed most of Du Meizhu’s story, which she had previously revealed to the public. They also revealed Du Meizhu had the help of a ghostwriter to write a few of her blog posts and that they were both conned by a third party trying to cheat money out of them.

Du Meizhu

The Downfall

At this point, all of Kris Wu’s brand partnerships, including Tencent and Louis Vuitton, had either distanced themselves or terminated their partnership with him. A fan site issued a farewell post to Kris Wu and revealed two incidents she wished to forget. She witnessed his manager adding the contact information of two girls while recording “The Rap of China”. As for the other incident, she claims Kris Wu’s cousin was secretly filming her while hiding behind a tree. Things stayed quiet until the Beijing Chaoyang Police reported that Kris Wu was in their custody for criminal detention and was investigating into the other claims against him involving underaged girls.

The irony of it all is that while Du Meizhu accused Kris Wu of drug raping her and luring other underaged girls, it was his mother who reported Du Meizhu to the police for blackmail and extortion, which set off the chain reaction leading to Kris Wu being wiped off from the Chinese internet. The police said neither Du Meizhu nor any other alleged victim had filed a police report with them at the time.

Different media outlets had reached out to lawyers to inquire about Kris Wu’s case. One lawyer said that if Kris Wu is found guilty of rape, he could face up to 3-10 years in jail. If he had raped a girl under 14 years of age or was involved in multiple rapes, gang raping or drug raping, he could face over 10 years in prison, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty. As for carrying out his sentence, if convicted, one lawyer said Kris Wu could be serving his sentence in China and could face deportation back to Canada after he finishes serving.

The Aftermath

The news of Kris Wu’s detention sent shockwaves throughout the Chinese internet. The situation was serious as different factions of the government condemned Kris Wu’s behavior and sent a message loud and clear that his Canadian nationality wouldn’t shield him against the law of China. The Weibo account for his first series with Yang Zi, “The Golden Hairpin”, had deleted all the posts related to Kris Wu. His super topic on Weibo had been shut down. By this time, public opinion was largely skewing in favor of Du Meizhu, while some of his fans still stuck by to support him.

On August 1, screenwriter, Liu Liu, and host, Mai Weiwei, issued apologies for their 2016 comments supporting and defending Kris Wu. Back in 2016, Liu Liu had written, “I originally didn’t think much of Kris Wu, but now I actually like him. He’s so good looking and still needs to coax people. After sleeping together and still gets betrayed. The girl is also cheap. She’s obviously a hook up buddy…” Ma Weiwei had written, “What better fan benefit is there than a celebrity X (f*cking) a fan?”

In 2016, a netizen by the name of Xiao Gina admitted to being Kris Wu’s girlfriend and revealed their chats. She also mentioned a lot of negative things Kris Wu reportedly said about Li Yifeng and his former EXO members, Luhan, Huang Zitao, and Zhang Yixing. Xiao Gina had also said Kris Wu once told her that Li Xiaolu had sent him flirty text messages before, which she has denied. She revealed she would travel to different cities for him. However, he started ghosting her. A netizen said she believed her because she had hooked up with Kris Wu before. She shared pictures claiming it was Kris Wu in bed. Shortly after, rumors about Kris Wu having numerous random hook ups were circulating. Kris Wu’s studio denied all the allegations and sued the rumor mongers about him being a “hook up king” and other related reports and won the lawsuits.

Xiao Gina

Despite their apologies, their accounts were already blocked by Weibo from posting. Su Mang, the former editor-in-chief of Harper’s BAZAAR China magazine and tv personality who had also defended Kris Wu in 2016, was blocked from posting on Weibo. Li En, who claimed to be Du Meizhu’s cousin, but was later clarified by Du Meizhu that she was just a friend, also had her account blocked from posting. Shortly after, it was discovered Kris Wu and his studio’s Weibo accounts and other Chinese social media accounts were shut down.

Weibo had also reported 990 Weibo accounts were either permanently banned or blocked from posting for using the news of Kris Wu’s detainment to attack the government, maliciously market to gain popularity, and more. In addition, 108 super topics said to be “error-oriented” were shut down and 789 groups dissolved for violating Weibo’s policies. It’s reported some of Kris Wu’s fans were still rallying to visit him at the detention center and were willing to offer their bodies in exchange for Kris Wu being “rescued from prison”. CCTV issued a statement saying this case should wake up “possessed” fans and condemned fandom culture becoming extreme in recent years.

Screenshot of a “Wu Yifan Rescue Group” group chat with members saying they are willing to use their bodies in exchange to get him out of prison.

During this chaos, there were also rumors circulating about Kris Wu’s detention and his case. Rumors started circulating Kris Wu was going to “snitch” on Wilber Pan and JJ Lin for their involvement with drugs and staying at a brothel together. Both parties denied any involvement in the online rumors and issued legal statements saying they will take legal action to protect their rights to the fullest.

On August 2, it was discovered Kris Wu’s accounts on all Chinese social media platforms, such as Tencent, Baidu, iQIYI, Douban, QQ Music, NetEase Music, and more had been taken down. His name was also removed from the cast list of many of his works. Liu Liu and Ma Weiwei’s Weibo accounts were no longer available following their previous ban a day earlier. In addition to these accounts, Weibo accounts for Kris Wu’s official fan club, its related accounts, and one of their biggest fan site, Kris Wu Bar, were also shut down. Du Meizhu had also cleaned out all her posts related to Kris Wu.

Four of China’s major creative associations, CAPA, CFA, CTAA, and CMA, all issued statements on August 2 about Kris Wu’s case. They effectively condemned the unethical behavior and actions that cross moral lines. The CAPA called for those who commit these actions to be blacklisted.

The Cyberspace Administration of China also did a clean up of the Chinese internet. Their clean up exercise consisted of wiping out illegal and improper information circulating among fan groups. This included clearing over 150,000 posts or messages containing negative or harmful information, handling over illegal 4,000 accounts, closed over 1,300 problematic groups, and dissolved 814 improper topics. The Cyberspace Administration of China also urged each social media platform to strengthen their management in rankings and fan group support by canceling product features that would encourage fans to use various methods to support their idols on ranking lists.

On the same day, there were rumors that Arthur Chen Feiyu was replacing Kris Wu in “The Golden Hairpin” through AI technology. Zhou Hao, the founder of Arthur Chen Feiyu’s management company, Tian Hao Entertainment, denied the rumors, saying, “It’s fake.”

As each day progresses, new rumors get circulated, like this one of Kris Wu’s wax statue at the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Shanghai being dressed in a prison uniform. Reporters reached out to the wax museum and they said Kris Wu’s statue was already removed earlier and that the photo of his wax figurine in the prison outfit is fake.

Credit: Weibo (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

16 thoughts on “Aftermath of Kris Wu’s Detainment: Wiped Off of Chinese Social Media, Backlash for Former Supporters, JJ Lin and Wilber Pan Getting Dragged into Rumors, and More

  1. Dont be too easy to judge. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That is justice. It is never too late to bash him after the judgment comes out.

  2. Not to make lite of the situation, but why is his face constantly in state of, “I’m severely constipated”? I never understood why people found him attractive, he has permanent RBF syndrome.

    1. supposedly, back when he was in exo, he was acknowledged to be the member that was the most good looking in person

      1. False. When EXO debuted, Suho and Luhan were considered the very handsome members. Kris wasn’t known for his singing, dancing, or visuals. He was only known as the english speaking member and leader of exo-m.

  3. When these posts first surfaced, I felt bad for Kris Wu too, but then more and more women started coming out with similar experiences (almost #metoo style like Harvey Weinstein). The different voices from victims are too damning to ignore. Also, I think the government currently has negative sentiments towards idols and may make a case out of this one.

  4. Wow what a downfall! It’s been such a journey watching this all go down in the public eye. I wasn’t a fan of Kris Wu but you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Hope the victims get the peace and justice that they deserve.

    1. I’m sorry, but why do you feel even a little sorry for him? He’s quite the scum bag, using his fame and power to lure young girls in to r*pe them. There supposedly dr*gs involved too since the narcotics bureau has also chimed in on this case. He deserves everything that’s happening and I hope he spends life in prison to atone for the irreparable damage to countless (and potentially underage) victims.

      1. I don’t see why gender comes into this. There are women who are feeling very sorry for him by protesting and offering to take his place in jail lol. Maybe you should have a word with them.

    2. Why would u feel sorry for him? He did this to himself, he made his bed and now he has to lie in it 😬😬 he knew what he was doing was wrong, yet still did it anyway

      1. Let me clarify, I feel “a little” sorry for him in the way it went down in the public eye. That’s all. If he’s found guilty of the crimes (which it sounds like he will be) then absolutely he should be punished to the full extent of the law. Plus the only people who are really entitled to feel sorry for him or not feel sorry for him are the victims, not us bystanders.

        1. For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean to attack you. I was genuinely curious what was left to feel sorry for. I actually think it’s good it went down in the public eye because if it’s behind closed doors, I don’t know what kind of private dealings could’ve happened with all his money and fame. I’m afraid he might’ve somehow gotten away with it. If he did nothing wrong, then maybe I would feel sympathy it’s getting so much public scrutiny. However, with the seriousness of his crimes, the number of potential victims, drugs potentially being involved and the alleged age of some of these victims, I honestly, don’t feel he deserves any ounce of sympathy. But of course, you’re free to feel as you please. This is just my opinion.

          Also, I agree that there has been tons of women who enabled him and this sick behavior. It’s not just men. The three people that got their weibo deactivated were all women. I personally think it’s worse when it’s women attacking women. I believe they said something to the extent that the previous “ex” was just a fling but she was shameless enough to want more, or what better fan benefit could there be than getting to bed with your idol. It’s terrible.

          1. Thanks for clarifying 🙂 And yes you make a good point – if things went down behind closed doors he may be able to escape charges or use his connections to get out of trouble. My only concern (and just playing “devil’s advocate” here) was – what if he’s actually innocent? Then his career and image is now ruined and probably not able to be recovered at all given how sensitive the Chinese entertainment industry is to any scandal (look at Edison Chen from years ago, and that was all consensual..). Of course him being innocent looks to be very unlikely given all the evidence mounting against him, but I don’t believe anybody should have a trial by social media, especially when most people don’t have access to the real evidence. Just my 2 cents also and again I hope the victims are ok and will get their justice.

    3. I don’t feel sorry for him. In fact, I would rejoice if they end up punishing him to the fullest extent of the law. He did this and now he has to face the consequences of his actions.

      I only feel sorry for the victims. No one deserves what happened to them.

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