Chinese actress Zeng Li is currently facing a public relations crisis over how her studio treated a fan. It started when a Netizen under the name Shisan Zhoufu, known to be a longtime fan of the 48-year-old star, accused her team of reselling a personalized gift that she had previously given to the actress.
Controversy Unfolds
Last March, the fan revealed that she discovered that her custom-made badge—originally gifted to Zeng Li—was being sold for 88 yuan on a secondhand platform. Said fan tried to contact Zeng Li’s studio multiple times but received no reply. Zeng Li’s studio later issued a statement blaming the incident on a staff member, claiming the person had been fired and that a police report had been filed. They stress that Zeng Li was unaware of what happened.
PR Backfires
On April 29, the same fan posted a handwritten apology letter, as she had been contacted by police and asked to clarify previous statements. She went on to say that she had made inappropriate comments online without knowing the full facts, and had publicly accused Zeng Li and her team of condoning the resale of a gifted badge on a secondhand platform when in fact, they weren’t aware of it. She admitted that her post, once picked up and circulated online, caused significant harm to Zeng Li’s reputation and expressed her apologies.
Statements from Zeng Li and Her Studio
Zeng Li’s studio further stated: “Thank you for restoring the truth! Once again, we sincerely apologize to Ms. Zeng Li and her fans! The company has strengthened internal management to prevent such incidents from happening again. We also urge users who have shared screenshots without knowing the full story to delete them. For those who continue to maliciously spread information, our lawyers will take action to protect Ms. Zeng Li’s legal rights.”
Zeng Li left a comment on her fan’s public apology: “I have always disliked getting involved in disputes, but I understand your feelings very well. Thank you for your support. Hugging and wishing you a happy May 1st!,” to which the fan replied, “Grateful for the encounter, our fate ends here, wish you happiness and peace.”
Meanwhile, this has raised serious concerns among netizens, who criticized the studio for seemingly making a fan—the perceived victim—apologize. The studio’s stern tone and lack of a direct apology to the fan was also criticized.
Zeng Li’s Reputation Takes a Hit
Zeng Li, once praised for her classical elegance in dramas like Love Like the Galaxy, has seen a drop in social media followers. Critics have harshly criticized how her team handled things. Similarly, the actress’s reputation has taken a hit as Netizens feel bad for the fan. The topic trended again when it was revealed the fan had unfollowed the actress.
Source: 1
HL
When a gift is given.. the receiver have right to deal with it. It is heartless to the giver but it is not illegal.
Applefish
I think the problem wasn’t so much the gift was being sold (it’s not the first time in cdrama land 😒). It would have ended peacefully if the management company ONLY released the statement said an employee stole the gift and sold it. What made the whole thing ugly, and ultimately the nail in the coffin is the fan was forced to publicly apologise to the actress 🙄 like That’s just a petty move.
Cc
this! forcing the fan to apologize was so unnecessary and tone deaf. the entire issue had already died down…
Yamapisukii
Doesn’t even sound like it’s that srs. Ppl be doing too much.
avarachika
You can totally tell that longtime fan won’t be a fan anymore just from that one sentence, “Grateful for the encounter, our fate ends here”. The fan was like that’s it, I’m out!
Just like how celebrities has a right to deal with a fan’s gift with however they like, fans also have the right to walk away and find someone new to support.
But, I’m more curious about what went down behind the scenes with that gift—like, did that fired staff member steal it? So many questions…
Applefish
It’s one of the common excuses they use when these sort of things are found out. It could be true, it could be not true 🤷♀️
avarachika
Guess we’ll never know if it is true or not.
These celebrities might as well burn the gift instead of passing it to others if this has happened before.
XZF
@ Avarachika
Exactly! That one short sentence was enough to make us all understand how disappointed that fan felt.
Ash
Fans are so sensitive. What did they expect the celebrity to do with all these knick-knacks? The celebrity must have thousands or maybe tens of thousands of these gifts in their warehouse. Which one is more special than the others? Some celebrities impose a strict “no gifts” policy to avoid all these messiness, or if the fans insist on spending money for them, then to redirect them to spend the money on charitable projects instead.
But the agency should have handled it more appropriately in the first instance. If they had responded to her first few attempts to contact them and look into it, none of the subsequent events would have happened.