Chinese boy group survival show “Youth with You 3” has been taken off the air days before its finale on May 8. The show’s top-ranking contestant Tony Yu Jingtian was slammed online in recent days due to accusations about his parents which they addressed and then about his dual citizenship status which showrunners nor Tony have responded to.
China’s Radio and Television Bureau Temporarily Suspends “Youth with You 3”
In a shocking turn of events, the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau (北京市广播电视局) announced in a statement issued on May 4 that they’ve ordered for “Youth with You 3” to be temporarily suspended from broadcast. At 1:39am on May 5, Youth with You 3 issued a statement:
A day ago, the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau has ordered iQIYI to temporarily suspend the filming for the third season of “Youth With You 3“. We sincerely accept this and resolutely obey.
We will strictly implement the relevant regulations stipulated by the administrative department of the bureau. We will suspend the recording of the program from today onwards, earnestly perform the main responsibility of the platform, actively assume the social responsibility of the media, further improve program management, carefully check and rectify existing problems, strive to more rigorously and meticulously grasp every aspect of production and actively create a clean and healthy online environment. Thank you for your concern and supervision of the program, and we apologize for the problems that have risen.
“Youth with You 3” Program Crew
May 5, 2021
Tony Yu Jingtian Withdraws Due to Health Reasons
At 1:48am on May 5, Tony Yu Jingtian’s agency Astro Music 星宇愔乐 also issued an apology on behalf of their artist for the inconvenience caused to everyone due to news about Tony taking up public resources. At the same time, due to his health, he will no longer be able to continue work which is why he’s withdrawing from the show.
“Youth with You 3” is one of the Chinese reality shows that have drawn much international attention. In fact, it has brought in BLACKPINK member Lisa Manoban as a mentor for the past two seasons. It’s unprecedented for such a popular show to be temporarily suspended. It’s also uncommon to see such a huge wave of controversies right before the finale. While it’s unavoidable to make the connection that the calls for Tony to withdraw and accusations against him is what resulted in his departure, some speculate that there may be more reasons to why the show is being suspended. However, we might never know the answer.
Seriously
Ah the perks of living in a communistic regime.
Yui
Wasnt he the number one on voting? This show got trending last week, thanks to Lisa and Ten’s dance practice and Lisa’s team. This show is so popular worldwide… Sacred K members fighting. I like Tony too. Good luck for him.
Cindy
I feel bad for the other boys…. hope the show can continue.
HL
Tony is a victim of this show… I am glad this show is suspended….More shows should take social media responsibilty of the participates.
Anon
He is not a victim. He willingly told the lies to suit his purpose. He deserves to be kicked out. The other bona fide participants are the real innocent victims.
Eliza
When did he lie? If you’re talking about the dual citizenship thing, I feel like it was taken completely out of context. He said he’s from Canada, like that’s literally where he grew up. He moved there in 2008, when he was only 6. Right after he said that, he said his parents are Chinese, which means he’s Chinese. He never hid his ethnicity when he was in the Korean show. He was also 16 at the time. Lets not nitpick on a kid’s choice of words. Everyone watching the show knew he was Chinese. How was it wrong for him to say he was proud to be able to represent Chinese people on a Korean show and get that far? Lets pretend his parents were actually guilty of everything that they were accused of for a minute. He has no control over it. Sure he reaped the benefits from his parent’s money, but he also didn’t know it was dirty money. Lets be empathetic and put ourselves in his shoes, and imagine how we would feel in this situation. I think we can show a little more grace. You’ve only seen him on tv, you don’t know him personally. We shouldn’t assume the worst in people and create this false narrative that he did it on purpose.