She was also the female lead.
9 minutes ago
Actor Zhong Yufei, a rising star in the Chinese entertainment industry, has sparked a heated controversy after making damning claims against an investor in one of his dramas.
Zhong Yufei | Sohu
In a recent public statement, Yufei alleged that the wealthy investor had handpicked him to play the male lead in a bespoke short drama, in which she herself had stepped into the role of the female lead. During the filming, she allegedly kept making changes to the screenplay, demanding more romantic scenes. The drama, which consisted of around sixty episodes, featured over sixty kissing scenes. Yufei mentioned that both the director and the screenwriter had repeatedly objected to these changes, but the investor dismissed them altogether.
Yufei with the lead actress-cum-investor on set
Yufei also claimed that the nature of the intimate scenes was not professional. During the first day, the ivestor-cum-lead actress allegedly kissed him directly and held him so tightly that he couldn’t step away. He also accused her of making physical advances beyond the scope of the script, to the point where he even had to explicitly ask her not to use her tongue during the kissing scenes. This complaint, too, was reportedly ignored by the actress. In fact, Yufei alleged that some of the scenes left him with visible bruises on his lips as she had bitten them so hard.
Zhong Yufei’s video statement about the harassment he faced
While these problematic incidents kept occurring in full view of the director and other crew members, none of them could intervene because the woman was also the project’s financier, and challenging her authority could result in retaliation.
Yufei kept filming for the project, afraid that speaking out could shut down production, subject him to penalties, or put a target on his back as a rookie. After production wrapped, the investor allegedly refused to pay the remaining CNY 30,000 (about 4,200 USD) of his fee, citing the drama’s lukewarm commercial performance.
Yufei finally spoke up against this exploitation, along with the drama’s director, Meng Xing, who also claimed that despite multiple objections, the investor pushed through with her demands for explicit intimate scenes. After the drama was released on a streaming platform, the platform reportedly removed more than 20 of those scenes, deeming them excessive, which left the storytelling extremely disjointed.
Meng Xing also released a statement confirming the allegations.
These allegations have quickly gone viral across social media, bringing in mixes responses. When some netizens argued that doing intimate scenes is also a part of an actor’s job, Yufei made it clear that he didn’t have any issues with doing intimate scenes that were in the script or agreed upon by both parties beforehand.
The production reportedly apologized to the actor later and assured him that future contracts would include tighter consent terms. However, this controversy has drawn widespread criticism of China’s short-form drama industry, with many claiming that Yufei’s experience was not unique.