This year’s Louis Vuitton S/S 2022 red carpet was not without its fair share of drama after actor Zhu Yilong was accused of pulling the diva card when he failed to appear on the red carpet during his designated time. The French luxury brand’s spring and summer presentation was a star-studded affair with celebs such as Dilraba Dilmurat, Carina Lau, Zhou Dongyu, Ouyang Nana, Zhang Ziyi and Shu Qi amongst others on the guest list. With so many stars in attendance and an event during a pandemic to manage, celebs were asked to appear on the red carpet in a particular order.
When it came to Zhu Yilong’s turn however, the actor was a no show during his turn, leaving staff and the media waiting in the cold for a full 20 minutes. Clips shared on social media supposedly showed LV staff calling out Zhu Yilong’s name during the lull and asking where he was. Later, it was Crystal Liu Yifei who jumped in to “fill the slot”, although her appearance on the red carpet was quite hurried given the last minute change. The Mulan actress only stayed on long enough to get pictures taken but didn’t have any more time for interviews before heading in.
Stealing the Spotlight?
Zhu Yilong eventually appeared on the red carpet where he also stopped for photographs and interviews along the way. This led to folks questioning whether it was his intent from the very first to nab the slot as the red carpet’s “finale” appearance instead of the brand’s global ambassadors like Crystal Liu Yifei.
As a guest for the show, Netizens argued that the actor should appear earlier in the lineup and not after the brand’s global ambassador who should hold more “gravitas”. Yet what happened was that it was Liu Yifei – a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, who had to jump in to fill in the 20 minute lull left by the actor’s non appearance on the scene.
A Fashion Blogger Comes to Zhu Yilong’s Defence
Meanwhile, a fashion blogger who was also in attendance and who interviewed the actor at the LV event jumped to his defence saying that he knew the actor quite well after working with him multiple times and that he didn’t believe Zhu Yilong was trying to be a diva at all. Following their interview, the blogger said the actor and his team headed back to the lounge to wait for further instructions from the organisers. However when the number of attendees at the venue started getting bigger, the organisers had to scramble to put new measures in place to ensure everyone’s safety. This was also the reason for the staggered appearance of celebs in a particular order on the red carpet, he said.
According to the blogger, the last minute changes naturally caused a few problems on site. But because the celebs were pretty flexible, they all quickly fell in line, with some appearing first on the carpet and the others, much later. From his point of view, this was a positive example of how everyone worked together to solve a problem so he said he doesn’t understand how Zhu Yilong could’ve suddenly been accused of being a diva just so he could get the spotlight as the red carpet finale.
HL
To be honest, I cannot imagine Zhu Yilong will pull a Diva in this event…
Anon
It was very unprofessional. I thought the explanation was going to be good but it didn’t make any sense, sounds like there was no good reason behind it.
Lisa
It sounded like it was just an accident. He’s not a newbie in the industry, I’m sure he understood how it works and would not have pulled such a publicity stunt to ruin his image. Don’t hang the man over a misunderstanding….