Global brands including luxury fashion house Prada and healthcare company Haleon have cut ties with star Chinese actor and singer Li Yifeng (李易峰), who was detained on prostitution charges as the government continues a crackdown on the entertainment industry.
Li, 35, also known as Evan Li, was arrested by Beijing police on charges of “soliciting prostitution on multiple occasions,” and reportedly confessed to the allegation, a Sina Weibo post by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and a report by state-run China Central Television showed.
His detention was followed by a series of international and Chinese companies announcing they have terminated all business relations with the actor, including Prada, where he was a brand ambassador.
Photo: Screen grab from Li YiFeng Weibo
Sensodyne, a toothpaste unit of UK-based Haleon, and Zhenguoli, a beverage brand of dairy giant China Mengniu Dairy, also severed ties with Li.
Chinese authorities often tout confessions by the accused in high-profile cases, which the US, the UK and other human rights advocates have long cited as evidence of coercion or torture.
Some of those cases have involved vice crimes like prostitution, such as American venture capitalist and Sina Weibo opinion-maker Charles Xue (薛蠻子), who disappeared in 2013 and was released after state television ran a taped statement in which he admitted to hiring prostitutes.
China has ordered sweeping actions to clean up the entertainment industry, with the broadcast regulator moving to ban film stars with “incorrect” politics, cap salaries and rein in celebrity fan culture.
Star pianist Li Yundi (李雲迪) was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in October last year as part of the wider crackdown on the sector. He has not been seen in public since.
Li Yifeng was previously recognized by the authorities as he played the role of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) in The Pioneer, a patriotic movie released last year to celebrate the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary.
He has also appeared in multiple promotion videos for government agencies, including the Ministry of State Security and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
With more than 60 million followers on the microblogging platform Sina Weibo, Li Yifeng was involved in the boycott of Hugo Boss over its pledge not to use cotton produced in Xinjiang over concerns it is made with forced labor by Uighurs.
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