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All eyes were on Chinese idol Cai Xukun last week after allegations about him sleeping with a woman he met through a friend during a KTV session and forcing her to undergo abortion after she was pregnant began circulating widely on Chinese social media.
Cai was most well-known for his appearance in China's reality TV show "Idol Producer" in 2018, through which he became the captain of the boy group, Nine Percent.
After rising to fame, Cai became the face of Prada, Tag Hauer and De Beers in China as well.
He was also scheduled to perform at Marina Bay Sands on Jul. 15 as part of his KUN 2023 "Maze" world tour.
Details of the allegations
The allegations against Cai were first posted by a Baidu user who goes by the online pseudonym "Don't be too audacious, Mr C" (C先生不要太勇).
According to the user, Cai slept with the woman, who was identified as Miss C, after they met during a KTV session in 2021.
A month later, Miss C found out she was pregnant after visiting the hospital.
After being told by Cai to abort the baby, Miss C went to the hospital and completed the surgery on her own.
Upon learning about the incident, Cai's mother asked him if he had worn any protection while having sex with Miss C. Cai said he did not, according to the post on Baidu.
The Baidu user also said that Cai's mother suspected that Miss C was setting Cai up to extort money from him, so she hired a private detective to stalk Miss C and installed a pinhole camera on her door illegally while asking Cai's assistants to reach out to her to discuss compensation, the Baidu user accused.
After Miss C realised that she was being stalked, she called the police, who then summoned Cai, his mother, and all his assistants who were involved in the incident.
The matter was only put to a close after Miss C signed a settlement letter in which she agreed not to pursue legal actions against anyone involved in the incident.
The letter, dated on Sep. 13, 2021, also revealed that the private detective had gotten into a physical dispute with Miss C's friends after he was found stalking Miss C.
Cai denied any criminal wrongdoing
While the allegations started to gain widespread traction after being cross-shared to Weibo, Cai and his team remained silent and did not address any of them until his videos were found removed from China Central Television's online streaming platform on the evening of Jul. 2.
On the afternoon of Jul. 3, seven days after the allegations against him first came out, Cai released a statement on his Weibo page confirming that he was in a relationship with Miss C two years ago.
However, he clarified that their relationship was a consensual one and that Miss C was not underage when they were dating.
Cai also claimed that he did not force her to undergo an abortion after she was pregnant and denied that there was any criminal wrongdoing.
In the final paragraph of the statement, the idol said he had learned his lessons the hard way and had been living in guilt and regret for the past two years.
He apologised to his fans who had supported and trusted him and promised to practice strict self-discipline in his words and actions moving forward.
Cai also asked members of the public and the media to respect the privacy of those involved, especially that of Miss C.
New allegations emerged; Cai denied them immediately
A few minutes before Cai issued his statement, new allegations that he had slept with an underage fan in 2022 started to gain traction on Weibo.
According to the fan, who identified herself as Miss W, she had been a fan of Cai since she was 13, and she was only 17 when they slept together.
The account which publicised Miss W's story also posted a picture of a man, who resembled Cai, kissing a woman in white while holding her up.
Screenshot via @懂瓜呱/Weibo
This time around, Cai responded to the allegations almost immediately, calling it a "complete rumour". He also claimed to have lodged a police report.
Subsequently, his lawyers also uploaded the receipt from the police indicating a report was lodged on their Weibo page.
In the caption, Cai's lawyers said they would not tolerate any malicious rumours and will hold slanderers accountable for their actions.
Top images via 蔡徐坤/Weibo & C先生不要太勇/Baidu