Louis Vuitton, Porsche, Lancome and several brands end contracts with Chinese-Canadian star Kris Wu amid teen sex allegations
Several well-known brands including Louis Vuitton have cut ties with well-known Chinese-Canadian celebrity Wu Yi Fan, known as Kris Wu, amid the growing allegations of luring young girls, including underage teenagers, into having sex with him. One of the alleged victims made allegations that have resulted in a huge backlash towards Wu in China. Though Wu has denied it, his team has filed a defamation case against the alleged victim.
Louis Vuitton revealed that they have suspended the contract with Kris Wu. The statement read, "Louis Vuitton holds in great importance the allegations towards Mr. WYF, & have suspended the relationship until results of the legal investigation are announced.”
Amongst the brands that have cut ties with Wu are Porsche, French beauty brand Lancôme, German brand Tempo, food brand Master Kong, platform Tencent Video, kitchen appliance manufacturer Vatti, haircare brand Seeyoung, and EtherealSound.
According to BBC News, "In recent weeks, 19-year-old university student Du Meizhu had been posting allegations online that Wu had lured teenage girls into having sex with him, by promising lucrative opportunities in the music or acting industries which never materialised.
Ms. Du spoke to the NetEase site and alleged that she was aware of atleast eight victims including herself. In China, the age of consent is 14. She said that two of them were minors. She claimed that she first met Wu when she was 17. She was invited to his home with other girls and they were pressured into drink alcohol. She claimed that next day she woke up in his bed.
In her interview, she went onto claim that Wu would pay allegedly other women to introduce him to more girls. BBC reports, "Ms. Du alleged that Wu had paid her 500,000 yuan ($77,130, £56,100) to 'keep quiet', but decided to speak out now as she wanted to be 'the last victim'. She said she was repaying the money and was ready to face legal action."
Over the last few days, there's been an outcry in China and demand that Kris Wu leaves the entertainment industry. On July 19 morning, Wu took to his Sina Weibo account to post a statement. "I have never cheated, there are no 'underaged girls' or anything like that. If I did such things, I would put myself in jail!" Wu said, according to Global Times.
In a statement released by Wu's studio, they claim that the claims made by Ms. Du are false. The studio also alleged that she would contact the studio and demanded huge sums of money for her to delete the social media posts. The studio revealed they had reported the case to the public security organs for investigation.
Part two of #KrisWu’s studio clarifications
[please don’t take out/repost our translations]
Trans ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/TQLBZHRTeW
— cdrama tweets (@dramapotatoe) July 19, 2021
Currently, Weibo has several screenshots surfacing amid the alleged predatory behaviour of Kris Wu.
