The CAC’s (Cyberspace Administration of China) purge of the Chinese internet has left a lot of unanswered questions. Aside from curbing unhealthy fan culture behavior, the CAC and several entertainment industry associations were sending down mandates to punish “tainted artists” who have committed some sort of crime or wrongdoing by removing their works and social media accounts.

Former R1SE member, Zhou Zhennan (周震南), was trending on August 28 when all of his scenes were deleted on the latest episode of “Happy Camp” (快乐大本营) that aired on Saturday. The show had previously uploaded trailers and additional footage that indicated he would be on the August 28 episode. The deletion of his screen time have left many fans wondering if Zhou Zhennan is being targeted by the CAC for being a “tainted artist”. Netizens are confused by the move as it seems like none of Zhou Zhennan’s other existing work has been affected so far.

Zhou Zhennan was in the hot seat last October when it was revealed his parents weren’t repaying massive amounts of debt stemming from their business dealings. While Zhou Zhennan had no involvement in these business transactions, netizens still deemed him guilty by association and would refer to him as a “deadbeat’s son”. Things settled over time and everything seemed to be back to normal until the recent waves of scandals led to the CAC to step in and set up new reforms.

Credit: Weibo (1, 2)