Cleaning up the act is a lead role

A pack of showbiz celebrities charged with vice crimes raises tough questions about their adequacy to continue their craft and act as de facto role models

I can almost envision the exact moment when Chinese regulators stiffened their resolve into a solid decision to slap, with potentially career-smothering penalties, entertainers charged with crimes of vice.

Throughout the August day when Kai Ko's arrest was confirmed for consuming illegal drugs, there was an outpouring of sympathy and support for the Taiwan heartthrob. His vast fan base came out online and showered him with understanding and love, leaving such statements as "I'll always support you no matter what you've done."

Ko was released after 14 days of detention, but his fate was sealed. Movies featuring the 23-year-old would no longer be approved for screening. Of the three feature films he had already made, but not yet released, the hugely profitable Tiny Times franchise decided to re-shoot the affected scenes for the un-released - and also final - installment.

The other two have no such luck as Ko is the absolute lead and there is no way to go around him, so they are shelved for the time being.

For the sake of public relations, most of his endorsement deals were scrapped overnight by the companies - mostly multinational corporations - that hired him for appearances.

The rationale seems to be: if a star has such power as to cloud the moral judgment of the fans to this extent, his personal behavior, even in private, could be imitated by those who love him for his work. This is especially acute for credulous teenagers.

Ko's initial rise to fame was just as dramatic as his fall: He was plucked out of obscurity into a starring role in You Are the Apple of My Eye, the 2011 runaway hit that ensured bona fide stardom for all of the main participants. Since then, his boyish good looks served well as his calling card, and now, his undoing.

(For comparison, Li Daimo, a pop singer fresh from a major television contest, was similarly busted for drugs a few months earlier and the online response was "You had it coming!" He is bald and not as dashing in appearance.)

But is it fair to condemn a young actor to the sidelines or out of showbiz entirely just for one infraction? Shouldn't they be given a second chance?

First of all, Ko is not being singled out. The new rule, first issued through informal means and recently authorized with a red-seal edict, applies to all showbiz personalities who are "principal participants" in movies, television dramas, concerts etc and who have been caught patronizing prostitutes or taking illegal drugs.

There are a dozen names on a list compiled by the media that fit the above description.

Some screenwriters have suggested, with their typical black humor, that since a writer busted for drugs could see their work being banned, they might think of threatening to use drug taking as a means to cajole investors into paying them the promised amount. (Chinese screenwriters are known for being victims of delayed payments.)

Pundits have argued that the new rule may run counter to an existing law that bars discrimination against those with a drug history but are now rehabilitated.

The 2007 law states that those who have stumbled into the pitfall are not only violators of the law, but also victims and patients. As such, they should be treated not as ordinary criminals, as such, but as special patients who need help. Those who have been rehabilitated should be eased into employment.

Since this special blacklist involves actors, singers, directors and screenwriters, shouldn't they be helped back once they have served sentences or have otherwise been sanctioned? What if they are repeat offenders as some of them already are? (According to a press report at the time of the 2007 law 2 million people in China had undergone mandatory rehabilitation, but the rate of recidivism was quite high.)

The problem is entertainment is a special business. It produces the bulk of a society's celebrities, who willy-nilly serve as role models to many. Their public personas are shaped by screen roles and other public appearances. But when their private life becomes public many in the public have difficulty separating the person from the image.

And entertainers profit from that smudging.

Worse still, unscrupulous businessmen seek to exploit it.

In a normal environment, a big-name entertainer who falls from grace will not only suffer the legal consequences, but also ramifications that affect their public image and henceforth their career.

But China seems to be caught at a stage when any publicity is good publicity. Ordinarily, the avalanche of bad press that goes with a vice-related scandal could doom a high-profile career. But some investors and producers view notoriety as an added attraction for their products, at least another excuse to plug what they're selling.

Film director Gao Qunshu reveals in his weibo micro blog that Chinese investors and producers have jumped on those on the blacklist as if they were the most valued properties in showbiz. One singer who is still in a penitentiary has been signed up for two dozen shows; a movie is ready to go into production as soon as an actor on the list regains freedom; and others have seen their asking prices soar like a rocket.

A vice scandal exposed may appear to be a good career move. And what message does it send to the industry and to the public at large? Well, that's not my question, but it must have been the question weighing heavily on the minds of the regulators.

I don't think every Chinese celebrity would act like Justin Bieber and just ratchet up their bad-boy reputation. But the temptation for easy fame may be greater as self-discipline gives way to wanton behavior that begets free publicity and the moral checks and balances that should exist in lieu of heavy-handed government-ordained restrictions seem to have crumbled.

Compare this with Hollywood where Robert Downey Jr., long lauded for his acting chops, was fired in 2001 from a television series he was making after two drug arrests. I'm not saying the Hollywood system is perfect and I'm not weighing the severity of drug charges in these very different cultures, but suffice to say one is rarely rewarded for bad behavior in any industry - or any country for that matter.

I have sympathy for regulators facing the dilemma of calibrating responses to this spurt of vice crimes. Whatever rules they make will not be able to please every segment of society. And they have a dubious reputation for stepping over the line anyway.

On the other side of the equation, is the public being unfairly deprived of another Ko appearance? His millions of fans may be in a state of lament, but compared with a writer whose talent could be ignored, a pretty face like Ko's is probably not counted as a divine right of self-expression.

Then again, writers can keep writing under a pseudonym, which will bring up uncomfortable parallels and get us into murkier and darker areas of contemplation.

The writer is editor-at-large of China Daily. Contact him at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/17/2014 page30)