It was a battle of two crooners last week in Hong Kong — but there was little music heard in this rumble. Golden Melody Award-winning singer Gary Tsao (曹格) upheld his reputation as a psychotic drunk by beating up his friend, Canto-pop singer Justin Lo (側田), in an extended brawl that started at a bar, continued in a taxi and ended on the street.
The following is Pop Stop’s blow-by-blow account of their night on the town, as told by the China Times, United Daily News, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) and Hong Kong paparazzi.
Round 1: Tsao and Lo are hanging out in a Central District jazz club. Lo tries to crash the stage for an impromptu performance with the house band, but is stopped by another bar patron. Feeling like they have “lost face,” Tsao steps up to confront the patron, only to be stopped by Lo.
Round 2: The two start arguing as they leave the bar (“I wanted to stand up for you,” said Tsao, “Why did you stop me?”). Tsao takes a swing at Lo, and the two wrestle each other to the ground. Lo and Tsao’s friends eventually break up the fisticuffs. The two make up and decide to share a taxi home, each accompanied by a member of their respective entourages. But the truce doesn’t last long.
Round 3: Hong Kong paparazzi hot on the trail film their taxi stopping in the middle of the road, with Tsao jumping out and “bouncing around like Bruce Lee.” The door is left open but Lo refuses to come out. Tsao charges at the cab and executes a “flying kick” on Lo while he’s still in the car.
Round 4: The cab pulls over, next to a roadside construction site. The paparazzi report hearing Lo’s “screams of pain” from inside the taxi. Lo gets out of the car, holding his midsection. Tsao grabs a road sign from the construction site and is about to strike when Lo and Tsao’s friends convince him to put it down. The two part ways in separate taxis.
A rueful Tsao held a press conference a few days later to apologize for the ruckus, saying that he would be seeking professional help for his drinking.
The incident is only the latest in a string of drunken escapades for the Malaysian-born Tsao, who is sometimes called the “Prince of the Ballad” in the Mando-pop world. In July, he was admitted to the hospital with a puffy face and cut finger after getting into a fight at a Taipei nightclub. Even though Lo says his friendship with Tsao remains “unchanged,” some damage has already been done: after the incident, Hong Kong promoter BMA canceled a concert next month featuring Tsao, which was entitled “Welcome to My World, Part II.”
Pop rockers Mayday (五月天) have set a new record at the Taipei Arena. The band accrued NT$1.7 million in fines for playing past the 11pm cutoff time each night during its four-night run at the venue, according to the Liberty Times. But the rock idols shrugged off the penalty, which pales in comparison to the NT$86 million they took from the concerts.
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