Chinese actor Evan Li was placed in police custody and later on confessed to visiting prostitutes after being confirmed by a CCTV footage
Chinese actor Li Yifeng, better known as Evan Li, who played former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong in a 2021 movie The Pioneer, has been detained by Beijing police for accusations of soliciting prostitutes, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.
In a social media statement, Beijing police said a 35-year-old male actor surnamed Li had been detained recently.
“The person confessed to visiting prostitutes multiple times and has been placed under administrative detention,” the statement said.
Despite the police statement not disclosing Li’s full name, CCTV footage confirmed that the said Li was actor Yifeng who was taken into custody.
Several brands began pulling out their partnership with the Chinese actor including Italian luxury brand Prada in which Li has been an ambassador since 2021.
According to posts on their social media account, the brand said that it had “ended all cooperation” with Li, without saying what caused them to cut ties with the actor.
Other brands also opted to drop Li including toothpaste brand Sensodyne, Mengniu-owned milk drink Zhenguoli, and traditional Chinese medicine firm King To Nin Jiom according to their social media posts.
The 35-year-old became a household name in China when he joined a national television song contest in 2007, later moving to acting and appearing in several TV shows, gaining 60 million followers on Sina Weibo.
A telling sign also came to light when his name was removed from the list of celebrities due to appear at the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala on state television on Saturday.
His studio was quick to defend the actor before any news of his arrest was made public saying that he had "always abided by professional ethics, adhered to the moral bottom line and actively shown social responsibility".
"The remarks about Li Yifeng on the internet are untrue and have been fabricated and spread maliciously by people with ulterior motives," it said, but it can be noticed that the statement was removed from Sina Weibo within 24 hours.
Tags: #prostitution, #china, #actor