Beijing — Rumour has it that the next celebrity to be axed by the Chinese authorities is martial arts actor Jet Li.
Following the wake of actress Vicki Zhao Wei’s scandal, a list of seven names has been circulating online. All mentions of Vicki Zhao Wei, 45 were deleted off the Internet last week.
According to Chinese director Zhou Guogang, who previously posted celebrity gossip on his Douyin account, he also speculated that Li, 58 will be cancelled soon.
The director called out celebrities like actor Huang Xiaoming and actress Li Bingbing who had removed their photos from Vicki Zhao Wei from their Weibo accounts.
As reported by Straits Times, he also warned Li earlier this week. “Quickly flee. Next month, the house may just collapse on you,” he said.
It is believed that the unverified list is from China’s National Radio and Television Administration claiming that there will be new restrictions on celebrities who hold foreign citizenship.
Besides Li, who holds Singapore citizenship, others on the list include actress Liu Yifei (American), actors Nicholas Tse (Canadian), Zhang Tielin (British) and Mark Chao (Canadian), and singers Will Pan (American) and Wang Leehom (American).
Vicki Zhao Wei is a Singapore permanent resident, and she owns a vineyard in Bordeaux with her billionaire husband, Huang Youlong, and is rumoured to have fled there.
It was speculated by netizens that the power couple’s business association with beleaguered tech tycoon Jack Ma could be a reason for her being blacklisted.
She posted three mundane photos on Instagram on Sunday (Aug 29), with a caption that seemed to imply that she was in Beijing, but swiftly deleted them.
Later, she changed her bio to just three words in Chinese: “Ha ha ha.”
Born Apr 26, 1963, Li Lianjie, better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese-born Singaporean, film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion who was born in Beijing.
After three years of training with acclaimed Wushu teacher Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. /TISG