February 5th, 2008
Damn You, Everyone! The Webmaster weeps for Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is so boring and cold. Nothing is happening at all right now.
Stephen, you’d better wash your right hand.
Actually, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you do know that something’s up, namely the ire of the populace and the local media thanks to the appropriately named Edison-Gillian-Bobo-Cecilia Scandal. I have been asked my opinion on this subject by about three people…so I’m going to post it on my blog!
To be honest, my response is a rather pedestrian one that really means nothing. Indeed, this whole fiasco really doesn’t bother me that much. I’m more bothered by the fact that it has delivered tons of useless traffic to my website, in the form of people desperately searching out photos of Edison and his conquests. I live in a small world.
But in the meantime, I’d like to say that this is an invasion of privacy and probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever been witness to.
No, I’m not talking about the pictures themselves, which are someone’s private business and were taken by a bunch of consenting, but rather foolhardy individuals. Really, nothing is that shocking here, unless you’re so prudish that sex is a complete turnoff. So, young women have sex? Yes, they do. So, a dope kid like Edison takes pictures of his conquests and saves them on his hard drive? Hardly a surprise, considering the “I’m from the streetz” stereotype Ed seems determined to embody with every phrase or action that he’s party to. At least he never claimed to be a role model.
Basically, we’ve learned three things from this:
1. Edison Chen is someone who you would like to stay away from your sister.
2. Famous women can have bad taste in men, and can sometimes do stupid things just like regular women.
3. Hong Kong is full of people who should know better.
I say this last thing because some people seem to act like they have a right to own these photos. Currently, webmasters of forums that hosted the photos are being arrested, leading to outrage from the local citizenry. Results of a current Apple Daily poll are frightening. According to the poll, 76% of all respondents think the blame for this fiasco actually lies with the photographer, and not with the people who chose to illegally distribute the offending photos without said photographer’s permission. There’s even talk of some sort of protest or march in support of people who posted Edison’s private photos on their websites. Say what?
Sometimes I wish people would just learn to leave these things alone. Did we really have to see and share these photos? Artists are people, too. They don’t belong to us. We can make fun of them if they trip up publicly, but this is a case of criminals taking private property that belonged to someone and using it to damage them. The artists are the victims here. Even Edison.
I still wouldn’t want him to date my sister, though.
Let’s close this with a photo:
“I’ll beat up anyone who says anything bad about Ryosuke.”
February 5th, 2008 at 1:14 am
A march in support of tabloid media wannabes? Oh dear…
Personally, I’d give Edison a pat on the back and be done with it. The guy must be the envy of teenage boys up and down the continent by now.
February 5th, 2008 at 5:37 am
From what Ive been reading, its not the sex thats a problem, its the fact that Gillians squeaky clean image is a lie, and the fact that her camp is insisting the images are doctored, its more the shock of learning that gillians been pushing this fake image to audiences for a boatload of $$$.
The other problem, much larger than Gillians image, is the manner in which police have dealt with the situation. I havent seen them crack down this hard on anyone else whose nude pics have been posted online, its only because celebrities are recieving special treatment.
and yes edisons a pimp, i wish i was him lol
February 5th, 2008 at 9:17 am
They are arresting people fast and furiously…. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the culprits, I would think. Just go to the computer repair place and question all the employees who had been working there if the pics indeed were taken from a computer Eddie brought in for service. Maybe the store no longer exists. I’m sure there’s a “paper” trail.
Anyhow, think this will eventually blow over and the affected stars will be restored to their former glory. It’s not like they intentionally harmed anyone when a 3rd person released their private photos.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Well said, Kozo.
Regardless of a person’s social status, what he/she does in the privacy of his/her house is none of anyone else’s business. It’s sad when people act like they have a right to know and pass judgment on everything a celebrity does. If any of those people read your blog, I hope it prompts them to act sensibly. Meanwhile, the Earth continues to turn…
I like how Jay Chou provides endless entertainment to us through you
I’ll never get tired of those captions!
February 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
It didn’t take this scandal to learn Edison is someone that you want away from our sisters.
Gillian has always seemed a bit naive and Edison does have charm with girls with his badboy attitude. And Cecilia hasn’t exactly projected a non-wild girl type persona. No surprise they participated in something like this. But what they did was natural and they are victims of a criminal act.
The thing is: this is the first scandal of this type with three young celebrities at the peak of their careers. Especially considering Twins’ squeaky clean image, it’s just that much more shocking to the young naive fanbase. Of course, if someone is naive enough to believe their squeaky clean image and that sex is somehow unnatural, then there’s really nothing to be said.
Anyway, what the girls and Edison did was a consensual private matter. The person who stole the pictures and the original person who posted on the internet (if they aren’t the same person) should be punished. Arresting and charging webmasters and general public who posted them is too harsh, maybe just a fine or warning should do.
Either way, Gil-Bobo-Cec, the fourth celebrity, and the two other girls will always live in fear that the remaining photos are floating out there somewhere. Edison is a victim too but 1,300 pictures for 6 girls?!?! Seems a bit excessive but it’s his taste. I do predict that all involved parties’ image and careers will take a huge hit. And would any girl want to go to Edison’s house now?
February 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I always assumed that Edison was someone that I wouldn’t want to date my sister, but given his ardent fanbase - some of whom have written in asking why I don’t laud his continuing acting improvement - I thought I should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume better of him. Sadly, he seemingly has fulfilled his own negative stereotype.
By the way, did anyone see his apology video? It’s a bit bizarre, if not overspoken and inordinately stiff. I’m half-expecting to find out that he was computer-generated.
About Gillian’s image being a lie, I never once assumed the whole goody-goody Twins thing to be true. The Twins are a product, and Gillian and Charlene are the two actresses who fulfill it. The photos don’t shock me because, well, other than the fact that she hawks Cup o’ Noodles, Gillian is just a regular girl who suffered through adolescence and puberty. It’s expected.
Still, I think there will be damage. Part of me believes that Twins cannot really go on after this. I hope I’m wrong, but it seems like it would be impossible to go back to their Hello Kitty image after this incident.
Arresting the webmasters is a bit much, and it’s true that stolen sex pictures of my next-door neighbors wouldn’t get the cops to raise even a finger. But a crime is a crime, and the overzealousness of the cops is a separate issue. Like with illegal film distribution via the Internet or bootlegs, people should know that the distribution of these stolen pictures is wrong and punishable by, well, something. If they execute these people they’ve gone to far, but a fine would be perfectly acceptable.
I’m more disappointed in the people out there begging to see the rest of the photos. Maybe they’re putting on an act through their online personas, but the whole thing is rather tasteless, isn’t it? I think it’s natural to be curious and look at the photos, but noisily clamoring for the criminals to escape so they can release the rest is too much. Some people have even said they have a right to see these photos. Um…no you don’t.
And Jay Chou is cool. I’d let him date my sister.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
His apology video is uninformative and well, nothing. Just because he flattens his hair and tries to be serious, he doesn’t answer any questions and seems sorry for being caught with the pictures, not regret taking them. And he blinks like a million times in 1 minute as if he can’t see the cue cards or something. “… strange, strange ordeal”… He should re-consider hiring his publicist or lawyer.
I think Twins will part before the end of 2008. It has been the cards before but this scandal pushed up it’s date I bet. I enjoy watching Charlene and Gillian in good separate roles but not in one of those wacky pop fluff movies as Twins. Although a lot portion of HK believed the image of Twins, a lot isn’t as naive obviously. They are girls (rich, pretty, famous, idols of millions) but still normal girls with normal human feelings.
Overall, everyone has learned a lot through this event. We’ve seen how the police, media, public react to something like this. I doubt this will fully prevent something like this from happening again but at least now girls will think twice about going into Edison the pimp’s bedroom.
I wonder if Shawn Yu deep down feels he can have a monopoly on the young-leading-HK-male-star sphere after the marriage of Nic and the scandal of Ed now. Jay Chou is cool, but sometimes I worry if we can understand his mumbling or if his hair falls in his food a lot.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
First, to Darren…what do you mean Gillian’s “image” is a lie? Does she go around saying “I don’t like boys, I don’t have sex with boys”? No. She’s just a regular canto pop star, sure she has a wholesome image, but only the most naive of people would assume a normal 26 year old attractive girl wouldn’t be sexually active.
Second, I really do not understsand what this huge deal is. Edison apologized–WHY? He didn’t do ANYTHING WRONG? Those pictures were taken by consenting adults. Someone stole pictures off his computer and leaked them online. The only people who did anything “wrong” are the ones who stole the picture.
Not Edison, Not Gillian, Not Cecilia. There is nothing wrong with having sex with someone and taking pictures for your own private collection. I really do not understand the HK crowd and media reaction.
And people feeling sorry for Edison? Please, you know deep down he’s happy those pics got leaked because it only makes him look cooler. You know Edison loves to maintain that “I’m a hip hop pimp, yo” image. That apology video is not only Edison’s best acting performance ever, but I’m personally stunned and shocked he spoke regular English, and not hip hop English.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
i’d also like to bring this up–
HK cops have wayyyyyyyyy too much time on their hands. I guess it’s a good sign that HK really has no serious crimes.
I mean this big a deal with this much attention and manpower over stolen nude pics? I bet LAPD spend less time on MURDER CASEES than HK cops did to hunt down those evil souls who saved some xxx cecilia cheung pictures.
Also off topic but– I thoguht it was funny when the Twin’s camp insisted on the pictures being fake, but then people broke it down bit by bit and found all these obscure clues to prove the pics are legit, random stuff like the shape of Gillian’s feet, lol.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:57 am
k reading what i wrote, it prob came out kinda wrong, im basically trying to say that if you want to maintain that squeaky clean image, its prob not smart to have images taken of ur sexual romps, even if it is for private use, because you never know if it might get leaked, especially if your a celebrity…one that has a huge fanbase consisting of younger ppl who consider u a role model…and younger ppl are naive just look through the forums about this incident…
February 6th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Through this scandal, we learn that Eddie’s got some self-worth issues bc he felt compelled to document every single exploit with his pretty, young, HK starlets.
And it’s a reminder to regular folks like you and I that no explicit digital image is safe as there’s always the chance a loving relationship may turn bitter, spiteful and vengeful somewhere along the way.
Apology video: I think someone was threatening him with a bite to his weiner.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Poor Edison looked like he was reading autocues. Anyone else thing EEG sent some hired muscle over, with film crew in tow?
As for this little episode spelling the end for the Twins - am I alone in thinking this scandal is unlikely to deter the legions of kiddies that comprise a large chunk of the darling duo’s fanbase?
This whole affair brings back memories of the Vanessa Hudgens nude photo scandal from September last year. Sure, it was an embarassing episode for the star of Disney’s High School Musical franchise, but it hardly shook her credibility amongst her hordes of squealing, prepubescent admirers.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:48 am
This incident has inadvertently provided some amusement for me, and it has nothing to do with the stars or their pictures. I’m talking about the random public out there, and their opinions. There is no right or wrong way to express opinions, since everyone has them and most are keen on expressing them. Reading through some of the forums about the scandal has been quite entertaining, just like people-watching on the beach.
On one of the countless threads that feverishly discussed the topic of “Edison Chen is stupid/careless for having taken his laptop with the pictures to a computer maintenance place”, many were going back and forth with posts along the lines of:
“He should’ve deleted those files”
“Even if he had, computer service people could’ve restored them”
And then someone says:
“He should have learned PC maintenance instead of wasting time to have sex with the stars”.
I fell out of my chair laughing.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
It might not hurt the young fanbase of Twins, but can the older and other people in HK ever see a Twins ad or something without remembering this scandal? There’s nothing wrong with what she did, but it hurts her image. Will corporate sponsors want to go near Gillian or Edison any longer? Probably not in the near future.
On a more humanly side, at least Cecilia has married and became a mother. Bobo’s marriage into a wealthy family is reported delayed now and this obviously will hurt Gillian’s future marital status. Of course, it won’t stop her but since HK society is more conservative, many guys might avoid having a relationship with Gil now.
And you’d think with all the money and friends, Edison would know someone who could fix his computer from his home… especially since he knew the photos were on his laptop.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:37 am
It’s sad to see those pictures are exposing more and more now. The news just mentioned that there is video selling in China already. Part of the people who work in Central also have watched those video. And this time more artists whose you are not expecting also appear inside the video. USA CNN reported about Hong Kong “Celebrity sex scandal”. This event is getting more bigger and serious. More and more artists are involved in this case. Hopefully everything will pass soon and people will forget about all these.
Anyway happy lunar new year, Mr. Kozo : ) Don’t worry too much about this, take some rest when you have time.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:31 am
At first when I discovered this whole scandal (I stumbled upon it whilst researching the movie ‘Jump’) I honestly didn’t believe it. In my mind (and I’m sure alot of others’) the HK press is a far from reliable source. I was happy to pass it over as just another “scandal” and have done with it… but now that it has blown up to such proportions I’m verging on worry about the actual intention of it all.
Regardless of the ‘image’ idols project, they are all human beings, and unless you are a prepubescent, naive child that believes everything you see in the shiney magazines; you should know that. All humans, as a general rule, have sex and the more voyeuristic will get a kick out of recording said acts. Now, I know alot have made comments on Edison’s side of all of this *if he needs to document, man, he must not get alot of action… blah blah* but seriously, if the women involved were any less voyeuristic they would have objected to the camera and none of this would be happening now…
Needless to say, however, those photographs are PRIVATE property and the person who STOLE them (even if they are digital) should be held responsible. I’m only suprised they weren’t used as black mail - as I’m sure that would have been a more lucrative route.
It does show you how petty and downright awful to their fellow man (and woman) other humans can be once something like this happens…
-pan-
February 10th, 2008 at 10:19 am
This is the best piece that I’ve ever read from you, Kozo. Keep up the goooood work! Love it! Love it! Love it! Can’t agree more with you on those stuffs! I’ll make sure that I’d check back more often. Keep us posted, man!
February 10th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Why does Ed apologize in english?
a) To be disrespectful towards those women
b) To be disrecpectful towards the H.K. citizens
c) “‘Cos I’m so cool-yo, man!!
d) His lawyer doesn’t speak cantonese
e) All above
February 11th, 2008 at 7:58 am
to papi: I would say e lol
Anyway, it was a great article Kozo, and well, I hope this scandal will be over soon and we will forget it all, and I don’t mean we should forget the celebrities, after all they’re all victims, I hope they will continue to work in the entertainment circle, yes and I mean even Edison, because I just think it would just be sad if such a criminal act would have such an efeect on others. Well, I’m only hoping I guess there will be changes, anyway, I hope the catch the culprit soon withought arresting other people who just post them online, I mean if it would be so I guess the one who saw it should be also arrested…
February 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
it’s a really hamful to those victims that appear in the nude photos because they all are HK stars, every asian in the world would know them. Firstly, i would like to say i used to like Edison Chen in “Initial D” movie. i think one day he could be the best actor in HK but after the scandal photo has leaked out, i think Edison and other victims would no longer qualify to be a star anymore. i agree being a HK star also a human with normal feeling and sexual active but this time it’s too far. It’s a shame of the HK ppl and the chinese audiences to tell this issue to other foreign people or being ask by foreign people.
Edison destroy his future career and destroy other investor money who had invested on his new movie “Sniper” and other movie like “Jump” and batman “The Dark Knight”. Honestly, i still prefer to watch his movies, maybe the director or the producer give Edison one more chance to let him be on screen for his last movie in his decline career instead of to cutting out of edison on screen or re-shoot the film. Maybe it’s will earn much than people expect, because this few movies is his final screen, i don’t think people still like edison after this scandal photo issue. so let him be on screen.
For other victims, i hope people will forget this issue soon and get this issue over. Seriously, i can’t imagine after being expo those nude photos, how can they still working in this field anymore!
For those people who see have seen the scandal nude photos, please delete it because it’s might being caught one day and this is really serious criminal nowadays or pity those victims that had involved.
I still think Edison need to apologize to the public in front of the media then people will think you are responsibility instead of hiding somewhere in USA, Boston.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Seeing those pics featuring Gil was like watching Hello Kitty in compromising positions.
Seriously, anybody ever questioned her squeaky clean image before the scandal broke?! No. Nobody could ever imagine Hello Kitty having sex. And THAT was the image Gillian portrait..(and 99.9% of all female canto-pop stars)
I am not hooraying for the person who leaked the photos. But s/he surely did expose the true face of celebrities and manage to stir up some action in hk entertainment world..
March 12th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Being a Chinese-American living in the U.S. and hearing about this Sexy Photo Gate was big news. The US have Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Robert Downey Jr., Rob Lowe, etc. etc. The Japanese have anime porn by the billions. It seems like the Western influenced countries are sex-obsessed. Who would think that the Chinese would do such a thing? Outrageous!
Beautiful Asian women have it made in the U.S., being lust after by white men who think they are superior to Asian men. So in this respect, with their humble exterior, they can win any Asian woman’s heart. Asian men in the U.S., however, are stereotyped as suppressive husbands, controlling chauvinists who treat their own women like slaves. Asian men in the U.S., no matter how talented and good looking they are, have it hard (unless they are in computers or finance). They are no match for white men, or any men for that matter. And now Edison Chen comes around! Making Asian men look like they are not sexually-handicapped after all! Asian men are actually wanted by beautiful Asian women! I cannot believe it! Damn you, Edison! How can you go down on Asian women like a sex slave? How can you show tons of photos of naked beautiful women sucking on your limp dick? Aren’t you afraid white men will laugh? I guess size doesn’t matter anymore! It’s what you do to the woman that counts! Damn you, Edison!
If the Chinese people will not forgive these people in the scandal, then I guess we will never move forward. For crying out loud, the U.S. forgave Bill Clinton, the president of the United States! Sure it all leaves a bad taste. Clinton will forever be scorned, Paris Hilton may never get a real actress job. But they are not publicly condemned or killed off. It is just old news, old gossips. Can the Chinese people do the same?
I am not saying that this scandal was innocent. It was sleazy. But if their lives are forever destroyed without a second chance, then the world will think that the Chinese will never be free-spirited people. Of course, we should have a moral code. They have apologized and felt ashamed. We have to forgive them and move on. Who knows? Maybe they were influenced by Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution.
Give them all very serious acting roles in very serious movies and let them redeem themselves.