It’s been an eventful week for actor Marcus Li Mingde who trended online after dishing dirt on the industry. He made allegations against the crew of his new drama The Triple Echo of Time 三人行 and the alleged special treatment given to his former co-star Ma Tianyu. The actor was once again in the news after it was reported that both the drama and his agency Hesong Entertainment terminated their contracts with him. Well today’s post from the actor unexpectedly has him saying he’s now quitting showbiz.
In the morning of January 9, the actor’s post said : “From today onwards, I will no longer post anything about the crew. I will leave it to the law. I shall bear all the consequences alone! Moreover: I just want to return to the life of an ordinary person, be an ordinary person and support myself with my own hard work. Don’t criticise me anymore! I also need to survive. I’m no longer a ‘star’. I am now migrant worker little Li in Beijing! Just to let you know.” Netizens took that as a sign that he has decided to leave the industry once and for all.
“You’ve retired from showbiz?” asked one Netizen. Li Mingde answered “you can interpret it that way. I don’t have choice” he said. He also shared that he now has no way of supporting himself.
The Tea
Here’s a quick timeline of what went on:
December 29: The Triple Echo of Time kicked off filming
January 4: Li Mingde wrote a post angrily calling out The Triple Echo of Time crew for poor treatment and for allegedly showing preferential treatment for Ma Tianyu. He implied that Ma Tianyu was throwing his weight around and acting like a big shot.
The Triple Echo of Time crew denied the allegations claiming it was Li Mingde who failed to attend the makeup and script reading sessions as agreed, leaving the scene and not responding to attempts to contact him many times and causing filming delays. They also announced terminating their contract with the actor. Hesong Entertainment also announced cutting ties with the actor last year.
January 5: Ma Tianyu releases statement denying accusations of acting like a big shot and for making the crew wait for him in freezing conditions. The Triple Echo of Time director spoke out that Li Mingde actually made a poor impression by arriving 2.5 hours late and wrecking the hotel room when they first met.
Li Mingde responded to the director’s accusations, claiming they were trying to sabotage his career and that the reason for his replacement was because he was stealing the spotlight from a certain male lead.
January 6: Li Mingde held a live broadcast and ranted against the show’s money making attempts. At this time his online following shot up to a whopping 10 million in a day.
January 7: The actor’s live broadcast rights were banned indefinitely for “deliberately fanning conflict to garner attention”.
Celebrity Reactions
Meanwhile, Li Mingde who first drew attention playing the “perfect” student in The Hope 鸣龙少年 has seemingly drawn flak from his co-stars. Actress Zeng Youzhen had liked comments from Netizens mocking Li Mingde. She reportedly also used her second account to express her sympathy for the director and crew members. What’s even more intriguing is that she’s not the only one of his co-stars with the same opinion. The Hope lead actress Huang Yao wrote a post expressing her support for Zeng Youzhen’s comments, then Wang Qiang whose character was in a bromaance with Lin Mingde’s character and seemingly kept the friendship offscreen, also liked it!
HL
So…he talked his own way out of this industry?
Barb
Really sad and unsettling.
Ash
He’s just one of those self-entitled brats that we see so often now in our workplace. Except he is far worse. Ours never wrecked the hotel accommodation we provided. Good riddance to him.
Accusing of Ma Tianyu of all people of acting like a diva. I think Ma would be laughing so hard that someone could believe he is a big shot. He himself couldn’t even believe it. He hardly has any big dramas aired in the last few years, and has stayed out of the limelight. He must be thanking this kid for reminding people he is still around and for the free publicity for this new drama, which I never heard of before.
anon
As a netizen, I can say no one among all these people are innocent, the production&crew, LMD and even MTY.
LMD’s temper did ruin him in certain degree but if what he said was right, I agreed with Jackson Wang’s comment, 水太深。
For MTY, I dislike his odd way of posting in weibo, response to LMD by saying LMD has mental health. through his weibo posting, I can say MTY is really 绿茶 in man version.
Disclaimer: I am not fan nor hater for LMD and MTY
Anon
Hahaha .. you can put a label on a person on one weibo posting? MTY has been in the industry for decades and this is a newcomer. Never heard of MTY of behaving obnoxiously. I myself don’t take nicely to a spoilt brat and I would not give him the time of day either. I’m pretty sure the spoilt brat would accuse me of being nasty to him too. And I most definitely would favor professional and well-mannered people too.
Coralie
with so many other people basically calling lmd out for being a poorly behaved actor, it seems it’s true. he might actually have mental health issues because he forgets all about his dirty history. sounds like narcissistic personality disorder.
HL
Initially I read about about his posts..I was unsure how much truth there were. I am sure there are some truth but as I continued to watch this space. I noticed many artistes who worked with him did not support him. I dont think he is well liked colleague. I hope he will be happier in his next career path..
Kai
He will never be happy whatever he chooses to do unless he changes his attitude. There are some personalities who feels and acts as if the world owes them a living. They never stay long in one job or place. They complained incessantly that they are being victimised every time something does not go their way. They blamed everyone else for the poor decisions they make, but they themselves are never at fault. I am sure everyone here has come across such a person at some time in their lives.