Lay cuts ties with Samsung over "One-China Policy"

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Many chinese stars have canceled their contracts with foreign luxury brands (such as Versace, Coach & Givenchy) after it was found that they do not adhere to the one-China policy and list Hong Kong and Taiwan as seperate countries on shirts they're selling.

Lay's studio has now announced that they canceled his modeling contract with Samsung because of their "global official website's lack of definition of the country and region".
He previously announced that he will "always adhere to the one-China policy, firmly maintains national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose any speech and behavior in various forms attempting to split the homeland" after Calvin Klein announced him as his new global ambassador.

[Translation] 190813 Yixing Studio Weibo Update: the studio makes a statement on terminating contract with Samsung Mobile pic.twitter.com/tJ6vxPwvFo

— 张艺兴吧✩XingPark (@XingPark) August 13, 2019

190812 @lay_studio weibo update: "Mr. Zhang Yixing and Zhang Yixing Studio always adhere to the one-China policy, firmly maintains national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose any speech and behavior in various forms attempting to split the homeland" pic.twitter.com/T7ORlG5dL5

— 张艺兴吧✩XingPark (@XingPark) August 12, 2019

Just FYI, the studio's post is in response to 👇

While Calvin Klein didn't have a t-shirt fiasco, it issued a statement and apology today on "...the misunderstanding of the language/country classification options on the CK US website..." and Yixing is the brand's new ambassador https://t.co/C5QnxdDyXG pic.twitter.com/jb4hqind6z

— Layshands 和你🍯 (@layshands) August 12, 2019

sources: @xingpark 1, 2, @layshands, bloomberg.com, @TrendingWeibo

Comments

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

I know he may not have a choice in this (and with the current events it's even worst) but the whole situation is fucked up

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

side note but samsung and SM (exo more precisely) collaborated with Samsung, how is SM ent taking the news? Are they even aware?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Since he's still signed to SM they have to be notified of every contract he signs and get a cut of his profits. I assume they know but can't really do anything about it because right now, he's their biggest chinese cash cow.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

I guess but Samsung is ...well Samsung

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Since this is happening with many chinese stars and brands right now, and given the current situation with Hong Kong, this is just another order from the communist party to showcase their superior power.

Has Jackson spoken up about the situation yet? I wonder how he feels, given that HK is his hometown but he's making bank in mainland China.

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I feel like for Jackson, he has been making it quite obvious that he's from Hong Kong, China since a while ago, so in a sense he's been pretty careful. although we'll never know how he truly feels about the current situation, he does emphasise on being a part of both Hong Kong and China from what I've seen

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

Some time ago I saw on twitter this screencap that Jackson and Lucas both posted on weibo the China flag (this is the only tweet with the screencaps I've seen tho, but I've seen many people mention this/them if you search for it)

basically this person’s trying to cancel lucas and jackson because they were showing their support for china, although if they were to speak abt the devastating hong kong issue, they would get the biggest amount of backlash and could get silenced pic.twitter.com/wqm5SAlXum (https://t.co/wqm5SAlXum)

— ً (@Iuvhaechan) August 6, 2019 (https://twitter.com/Iuvhaechan/status/1158836620201734145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Jackson always seemed to me like a person that doesn't wanna mix politics into his business if possible, plus he's stayed silent in the past, so I wonder if his hand was forced/his job was on the line... (same with Lucas I guess)

edit: ok someone is saying he actually "RT-ed" it instead of posting it directly but... if true idk if it changes anything (sorry for the edits)

[karaskye.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure every single celebrity who promotes in China had to post this.

After Bing Bing's disappearance, I don't think anyone is taking any chances.

[daynr.livejournal.com]

I'm always interested in this issue with Jackson. He's not only from Hong Kong, but his parents were mainland national athletes and his grandpa a Shanghai doctor, so they all know the power of the government and yet chose to raise their kids in Hong Kong and send them to be integrated with the West. From what I can tell, Jackson is trying to dodge, but also Jackson is choosing money, business, and ambition. Maybe he believes in the one nation policy, even if by force.

[hpn88.livejournal.com]

Jackson is walking the finest of lines and covering it up with his extra
He plays up the Hong Kong part when he is at home and in Korea (cause HK is fine in Korea, but china not so much) and then in China and America he plays up the Chinese part. He introduces himself as Jackson Wang from China in America when he is solo.
I wonder how long he can play this game though.

[juhli.livejournal.com]

True, he's not only having to tread carefully with his solo vs. group identity, but also Chinese vs. Korean and HK vs. Mainland, damn

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

Honestly whether any of these guys/gals support China or not is basically a non-issue. They can't say anything otherwise without hurting their careers. I'd be literally amazed if any celeb spoke up against China, not just stay silent, but actually said something.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

The Fang Bing Bing scandal last year showed that it doesn't matter how rich or famous you are, if you do not cooperate with them they will end you.

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

exactly. and she was one of the top celebs and money makers in china too.

[senshicalico.livejournal.com]

i know we talk a lot in this gossip comms about how the more money and such you have, the more clout you have and are likely to get away with things but... as a content creator, one thing I've definitely noticed is that even the most seemingly untouchable people can still be brought down by those in true power. It doesn't matter how much money that person makes them. When you've got millions of people making a go at it, there will ALWAYS be someone to quickly replace them. Always.

[baekpedaling.livejournal.com]

You're a content creator? What do you do?
I'm genuinely curious and not being skeptical or anything

[senshicalico.livejournal.com]

without going into too much detail I publish fictional ebooks. I make a living but I'm definitely what you would call "midlist" in the publishing industry so I'm not really a household name, even in my category. But I def get a front row seat to the household names who get banned overnight by amazon for reasons that are never disclosed. And while it's possible someone Did Something Bad to get banned, I've also been in the giant's crosshairs over stuff I didn't even do. I've known more than one person who got their accounts closed and lost their livelihoods and never, ever found out why because Amazon never tells you. It's also def an industry (indie publishing that is) where you're never too big to fail, because amazon holds the monopoly and can do whatever the fuck it wants with its charts, including bumping stuff they don't really like off them and promoting their own publishers' books to the top.

anyway, going back to my original point, some people were shocked that someone as big as fan bing bing quietly disappeared, but honestly it just reminded me of this mindset we have in my career that you're never too big to get knocked down a few pegs (or all of them) overnight when the person above you holds ALL the power. There are millions of celebs to replace her with in China. There are millions of people trying to break into novel publishing every day on Amazon. Authorities reach a place where they can take a blip of a financial hit if it means keeping their image the way they want it. It's just a cost ofdoing business for them.

[daynr.livejournal.com]

While I think it's true that idols don't have a choice, I also think Lay probably believes this. These are issues where there is no clear answer, because millions of people, complicated history, grey grey grey, but also let's not pretend like some of these people are not also fervent nationalists.

Or like they necessarily know half the shit that we in other countries believe to be well-known facts.

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

some of them may be nationalists, but you literally cannot assume that from anything they put out publicly in support of china. they don't have a choice. there's loads of examples of very famous chinese celebs being taken down by the govt just like anyone else.

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

yeah same

[krissasaur]

I won't pretend I know anything about this, but being for "One China" makes me angry for some reason. It just feels wrong. I really should look into it more some day.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

people who make statements in support of "national unity", "let's be one" are pretty much always saying "you're going to assimilate whether you like it or not." (although in this case, a lot of these celebs are probably forced to say it) i think that's why it feels wrong.

[senshicalico.livejournal.com]

you just have to look into the "relationship" between China and Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and the ol' classic, Tibet :\ It's pretty chilling and heartbreaking stuff.

[sciencebottle.livejournal.com]

Big yikes. But knowing what happened to Fan Bing Bing, I am not surprised. I don’t think any of us will really ever know what exactly he believes. I don’t think that it’s really as simple as “He’s supporting a horrible regime, cancel him”.

[cosmicdaze.livejournal.com]

相信国家 反对暴力 希望中国香港平安🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/mukHmeGBqI (https://t.co/mukHmeGBqI)

— Lay Zhang (@layzhang) August 14, 2019 (https://twitter.com/layzhang/status/1161521747243520008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

whoop there it is

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

What exactly is the sentence supposed to mean? "What a shame for hong Kong"? (not coming at you or anything just curious/dumb)

[mycorrhizoid.livejournal.com]

IDK what the English means, but the Chinese text is a lot clearer. Lay's caption : trust your country / oppose violence / hope China and Hong Kong are peaceful.

Text in the graphic: "I support the Hong Kong police, you can hit/attack me"

Seems to be implying that the protesters are the ones using violence and not the police (actually the reverse).

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Is he the only one that posted this or was is another order from the CCP to all celebs?

[mycorrhizoid.livejournal.com]

I just checked a few other Instagrams (Jackson, Tao, Victoria). None of them posted it, just Lay.

[trancexperiment.livejournal.com]

I do believe that there are celebs who are expected to openly show support for China nationalism because they have to, and then I also believe there are celebs who actually believe in this stuff, like Lay. His staunch nationalism in the past has made it hard for me to see past it and enjoy him as an idol so this post from him isn’t surprising whatsoever.

He used to be a fav but I’m just really disappointed in him now

[accioanime.livejournal.com]

I remember him and Pinky (from Pristin) also posted some shit when it comes to China's claim on Spratly Islands. As a Filipino, they are both cancelled to me, even though they were my bias from their respective groups.