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Pop Stop

Chang Chen-yue was, refreshingly, found not guilty of taking drugs. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

The Canadian-born Jacky Zhu (祝釩剛) has been kicked out of 183 Club for being a playboy. In the West a player isn’t such a bad thing, but here it’s more complicated. The pop audience is generally younger and therefore adult material is not welcome. The nation’s youth, it seems, needs to be protected from the predations of people like Zhu.

Zhu’s “sin” was to go nightclubbing and according to informed sources his preferred playground was Room 18, where he would put it about a bit. Regrettably, the poor luvs who were lured to the pop star’s pad were so upset at being just another notch in the star’s bedpost they wrote to Zhu’s record company, Jungiery, and complained. Jungiery has a stable of wholesome performers like 5566, 7 Flower and K-One. The svengali behind these toothsome grins and pretty haircuts is Sun De-rong (孫德榮, aka Sun Zhong) and he’s famous for managing with an iron hand. If talent steps out of line it’s slapped into shape or pushed out.

The country’s moral guardian has been disenchanted with Zhu for some time and had been fining him for his clubbing and sexual infractions. According to a report last month in the Liberty Times (our sister paper), the final straw was a trip to Hong Kong, with a model. The media caught him at the beach applying sunscreen. Pop Stop is tempted to applaud his caring side, but the Times’ outraged tone captures the moment better.

Jacky Zhu has been kicked out of 183 Club. But why? PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

“He was caught intimately applying oil all over her naked body. Even worse, he spent the night at her house. As the result of these intimate pictures, Sun De-rong was provoked,” the Times wrote, adding Zhu’s opinion was that, “This shouldn’t be a problem. ‘Hollywood artists often do these type of things.’”

Now comes the interesting part of the story. Last weekend a Shanghai news report said Sun had finally announced Zhu’s departure and confirmed the band was going to be “five minus one for the foreseeable future.” Fans on the 183 Web site were incredulous.

“It is hard to find someone like Jacky. I mean, no one is perfect so I would forgive Jacky for what he did. I honestly don’t think it was something really bad or really serious, but sadly [Sun] thinks it was.... sigh … I am just sooooo sad ... I don’t know if I can ever completely get over this ... SOB ... Jacky please come back,” said a tearful “Trinie.”

The spin on the story was this was a cultural misunderstanding. Foreigners (even Canadian-born Chinese) don’t understand the ways of the East and therefore behavior that is acceptable in Hollywood just doesn’t cut it here. This is true. After all, can you imagine Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) going out on the town without her knickers, her privates flapping in the breeze, like Britney Spears? Obviously not.

However, deep throat sources have revealed another possible reason for Zhu’s departure. They say the recent police dragnet of showbiz people has netted one more victim and that is Zhu, who is said to have been tested for drugs and found wanting. Pop Stop spoke to two representatives at Jungiery and while neither denied the accusation, both repeated the management line that Zhu was asked to leave the group because of bad behavior.

On a positive note, the taike entertainer Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽), who was also swept up in the ongoing police operation, was found not to have taken drugs. Previously he had claimed he was innocent and called on “Earth People” to have faith in him. Earth calling Chang, congratulations. Taike promoter Landy Chang (張培仁) was less fortunate, however, and tests showed he had been taking magic potions.

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