Producer suffers heavy losses after Coco Lee bullying scandal
On August 25, Zhejiang Satellite TV announced the "temporary suspension" of the popular game show Sing! China, also known as The Voice of China.
"The Voice of China is under investigation, the show is temporarily suspended," the producer's announcement stated.
Coco Lee took over as a coach on The Voice China in 2019.
According to Bloomberg News (China), after this information was shared, the stock value of Star CM Holdings - the producer of The Voice China - fell by 14% in Hong Kong on August 25. The latest decline pushed the company's loss in August to 55%.
Star CM Holdings lost about $3.4 billion in market value in a three-day slump last week due to the leak of Coco Lee's recording, the news site said.
Thepaper reported that the stock price of Xingkong Huawen - the parent company of Star CM Holdings - has also rapidly plummeted in recent days.
At one point, the stock price fell more than 11%, reaching a low of HK$59.15 per share. This was down more than 50% from the closing price on August 17 of HK$124 per share.
Not stopping there, Sohu also recorded that the audience simultaneously called on the sponsors of this program to withdraw their sponsorship. They went to the brands' Weibo pages to leave comments and messages asking them to stop cooperating with The Voice China.
Audiences threatened to stop buying the product if the brand continued to cooperate. Currently, 23 brands have been caught up in this incident.
Coco Lee performs on The Voice China
The noisy scene of the Chinese game show The Voice
The controversy surrounding the Chinese game show The Voice broke out when a 9-minute recording believed to be of the late diva Coco Lee (who passed away in the US on July 5) was spread online on the evening of August 17.
The Voice China producers are being called for a boycott over the Coco Lee bullying scandal.
In the recording, Coco Lee complained about being treated unfairly while filming for The Voice China.
According to the rules, the contestant with the highest score from the four teams will advance to the final top 5. The fifth contestant will choose the person with the highest score from the remaining 7 people. The contestant from Coco Lee's team won the highest score, but that spot went to a contestant from another team.
After the argument, the show's director threatened and intimidated the female singer to leave the studio, otherwise, he would ask security to handle it. The producer even cut many images of Coco Lee.
Under pressure from public opinion, the producers were forced to invite the singer back, with the threat of eliminating her team's contestants if she did not return. At the same time, Coco Lee had to explain that the incident was a misunderstanding and had been resolved. Meanwhile, the singer was currently undergoing cancer treatment.
On the final night, Coco Lee's leg injury relapsed, so she informed the producer that she wanted contestant Trach Bang to stand with her on stage to support her.
Initially, the producer agreed, but when it came time to film, they asked Trach Bang to leave first, leaving Coco Lee standing alone, and she even slipped on stage. Coco Lee said that after nearly 30 years in the profession, she had never been so severely insulted.
Shortly afterwards, The Voice of China's official weibo page issued a statement in response, saying: "Recently, some social media accounts have been spreading maliciously edited audio recordings on the Internet.
This is an act of disrespect for the deceased, and also seriously damages the image of the program. We firmly condemn it."
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