On the evening of November 13th, Huang Zitao and Xu Yiyang went on a live broadcast together where he broached the topic, “At the time, everyone thought we were dating, how do you feel?”
Xu Yiyang who is an artist under Tao’s company L Tao Entertainment was a contestant on the Chinese survival show CHUANG 2020 where Huang Zitao was also a mentor. Although she was a fan favorite, she did not make the cut as she finished in 8th place which is just one spot shy from the seven contestants who were able to debut as part of BonBon Girls. Nonetheless, Xu Yiyang’s interactions with her supportive boss Tao paved the way for dating rumors.
In fact, shippers have found ways to match up Xu Yiyang with Tao who has openly talked about wanting to find love. Back when Tao had shared a photo of two anime characters on Weibo in June, netizens assumed that it was about Xu Yiyang as she had sported double pigtails during a performance on Chuang 2020 that was being likened to Tao’s favorite anime character Rin Tohsaka.
Tao had denied this when he dropped his new single Ice Cream on June 22: “Why is it so difficult for me to post a new song?.. I can’t even… Bro, the girl in the picture is called “Ishtar”, not “Rin.” Figure it out first then come bother me. You don’t even know who they are. How do you think my “Ishtar” will feel? She will be sad, okay? Which girl hasn’t done pigtails before?”
In the livestream, Huang Zitao finally addresses the dating rumors with Xu Yiyang once and for all with a cheeky response: “Everyone says that the person that I worked hard to build up is my girlfriend. Sighs They’re all my younger sisters, my company’s artists, they’re all family. But I don’t think it matters. It’s all good. At least there’s heat (public interest), if you are willing to give attention then given it, if you want to watch, then watch, if you want to ship then ship, it doesn’t affect me, at least it is my artist who is getting popular anyways. I thank you all.” Xu Yiyang says: “Correct.”
