So much has happened since our last post on the Edison Chen photo scandal that it is about time we updated you! First, the Edison Chen saga has caught the attention of CNN. The Chinese-speaking world has never been as enraptured in a scandal as this, and its scale and magnitude is threatening to make Paris Hilton look very passé. Kristie Lu Stout reports:
Yet more female celebrities have been sucked into the scandal with some of the latest pictures released. Here’s one of the very exotic looking Maggie Q (李美琪). Apparently though, this was just a promotional picture for Edison Chen’s clothing line and may have nothing to do with his sexcapades. Really, there’s nothing too scandalous about the pic anyway. Nevertheless, a sex tape involving Edison Chen and Maggie Q is said to be circulating in Hong Kong:
A series of pictures containing a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) in lingerie is also making the rounds. However, internet sleuths have worked out that this is not Jolin Tsai but one of her wannabes. She also does not have a tattoo on her left arm like Jolin does:
Three pictures of 19 year old Vincy Yeung (杨永晴), Edison Chen’s current girlfriend, have also been released by the mystery man “Kira”, and here’s where it gets a lot juicier. Vincy is the daughter of Ricky Yeung (楊超成), brother of tycoon Albert Yeung (楊受成), the boss of Emperor Entertainment Group who is said to have numerous triad affiliations. Even Jackie Chan (成龍) was said to have appeared “uncomfortable” when told of this latest development and left without making any further comments. Edison has once made known at a party that he will marry Vincy as soon as he has earned HK$150 million. Because of concerns that Vincy was underaged when the said photos were taken, this is about as much as we can show you:
Other women sucked into the case include lesser known stars like Rachel Ngan (顏穎思), Mandy Chen (陳育嬬) and Candice Chan (陳思慧):
Rachel Ngan:
Candice Chan:
Mandy Chen:
The long-awaited statement from Gillian Chung came yesterday, when she made her first public appearance since the scandal erupted. She is the first artiste to come clean and admit her involvement with the pictures (shame on you, Edison!), even though her record company EEG had earlier insisted the pictures were digitally altered:
“I admit that I was naive and very silly, but I’ve grown up now. I want to thank my company, family and friends for their concern. As for the influence this incident has had on society, I apologise. In the coming days I will continue to focus on my work and face up to my life.”
In other news:
- After getting cut from the new film Jump <跳出去> by Columbia Pictures, Edison has also been dumped by credit card company Manhattan Titanium because of the scandal. Sing Tao Daily estimates the scandal could cost Edison HK$10m a year in work and endorsements. Other sponsors of Edison include Pepsi, Levi’s, Jacobs & Co, Samsung and EPS, and the star is said to be able to fetch as much as HK$1m for each endorsement.
- Edison Chen will be back in Hong Kong this week. His management at East Asia Music has denied that he fled Hong Kong to escape from the fallout. Meanwhile, Edison’s godfather Anthony Wong (黃秋生), said that Edison will return to Hong Kong to “help the police catch the ‘crazy man’ who is leaking the sex photos”.
- Bobo Chan seems to have been hit the worst. After having left show business in 2006, she led a relatively quiet life and was even going to marry her investment company director boyfriend Kam Chi Yiu (金紫耀). The marriage has apparently been called off and now that Bobo Chan is uncontactable, good friend Denise Ho (何韻詩) and ex-boss Nat Chan (陳百祥) have expressed concern.
- Hong Kong police have arrested the ninth suspect and charged him with breaking obscenity laws. Protestors have taken to the streets criticising the police for its special treatment of celebrities, its invasion of privacy of internet users and its hunt for a scapegoat despite the continued leak of pictures. “Kira”, the mystery man is still at large and presumably outside of Hong Kong. He had earlier promised the widely anticipated video to be timed with Gillian Chung’s public appearance, but has now postponed the release to 3am TONIGHT:
Today is the day when Gill will meet the fans for the first time after the scandal. I wanted to release her vid at the same time. However, due to a certain reason, I was not able to. Now I decide to release 3 vids at 3:00 am. The content are 1. the original video of the pre-released photos, and 2. some new materials that haven’t been shown in the photos before.
Be Patient!!!!!!
PS: Stop arresting the scapegoats. If you’re capable enough, come get me! - The Vancouver Sun, in its report of the scandal, embarrassed itself by mistakenly inserting the picture of Wang Lee-Hom (王力宏) instead of Edison Chen and has since apologised for the boo-boo:
- The scandal continues to take front page in all Hong Kong tabloids. Here’s a snapshot from Monday’s edition of The Standard:
- Taking an unscientific poll on Hong Kong’s “Avenue Of Stars”, Shanghaiist suspects that the celebrities involved don’t need to worry about their popularity however. We had to literally elbow small children out of the way to have our photo taken in front of Gillian Cheung’s hand prints.
- We also sipped wine yesterday with a friend who used to patronise the same row of stores that Edison goes to. Two years ago, our friend had been offered by one of those men a sneak peek at those pictures, but he declined. So it looks like the pictures were an open secret at least among the staff working there.
- For those with no interest in such trivial matters, the light at the end of the tunnel is that Bishop John Tong (the Pope’s top man in Hong Kong) has stepped in to say that the whole business is making God jolly cross and they should stop it immediately. So we expect to hear no more about it.
* James Creegan contributed to this story.
Previously on Shanghaiist:
Edison Chen, Bobo Chan, Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung embroiled in Hong Kong’s biggest sex photo scandal ever
The Edison Chen sex scandal rages on with more pictures released by mystery man
UPDATE: Edison Chen sex scandal: Witchhunt hits China
UPDATE 2: Edison Chen stuns Hong Kong by quitting showbiz
UPDATE 3: Someday, China may look back at the Edison Chen scandal and thank the man for its privacy laws
Did we miss out on any new developments? Send us your tips at info AT shanghaiist DOT com!
