Producer awaits Stephen Chow's apology for mafia claim
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 27, 2016
Tiffany Chen, the outspoken wife of Hong Kong film industry tycoon Charles Heung, asked actor and director Stephen Chow to apologize to her family after she won a lawsuit against several websites that called her husband a member of the "mafia."
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A photo of Tiffany Chen and Stephen Chow. [Photo / weibo.com] |
Three websites, including China Daily, Taiwan.cn and Global Entertainment Web, posted a story in 2014 alleging the Heung brothers to be mafia members but the Heungs have always denied this rumor. Heung's family had an Asian mafia Triad background which has previously led to controversy.
Charles Heung filed a civil suit accusing the websites of defaming his reputation and won the case in Beijing in June. Heung maintained that he is always a decent businessman and has never been a member of the mafia and that other stories around his family are purely distorted and vicious rumors.
Chen, also vice chairman and producer of China Star Entertainment Group, posted a screen grab of the public apology from Global Entertainment Web on her Weibo account on July 26, saying, "Those websites are brave to recognize the mistakes and delete the posts and apologize. They are sincere and play leading roles (in vindicating Heung's name), we will surely forgive them! But, there is still one man... who has not taken action?"
Tiffany Chen then posted a photo of her and Stephen Chow, targeting Chow and waiting for him to apologize for spreading rumors. She believed Chow once hired a ghost writer to write a story about Charles Heung's "mafia background." But Heung, Chow's former boss, didn't sue Chow.
Chow never spoke up about the issue and his management denied involvement in the online post, leaving Tiffany Chen no choice but to ask many celebrity friends to support her and her husband by bashing and denouncing Chow.
However, Chow is so loved in China by many movie fans that grew up with his comedies. For instance, Chow's last film "The Mermaid" grossed nearly 3.4 billion yuan (US$509.8 million) in China and is the highest grossing film ever in the market. So, Chen was usually criticized, cursed and attacked by fans and many film critics.
China Star Entertainment Group will release a fantasy film entitled "League of Gods" with an all-star cast led by Jet Li, Tony Leung, Angelababy, and Fan Bingbing in China on July 29, 2016. Charles Heung and Tiffany Chen produced the film while their son Jacky Heung has a role in the film. Chen said at the premiere on July 24 that she hoped the film’s revenues could surpass Chow's film.
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