courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au)
February 26, 2008 - 3:00PM
A female Hong Kong pop star at the centre of a sex photos scandal has been banned from singing at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, a news report said today.
Singer Gillian Chung was one of a number of starlets pictured romping naked with singer-actor Edison Chen in photos downloaded from his laptop when he took it in for repairs and widely circulated on the internet.
The popular 27-year-old singer had been due to perform at the Olympics opening ceremony in August but has now been dumped because of the scandal, the South China Morning Post reported.
The ceremony's artistic director Zhang Yimou decided to take Chung off the bill after the scandal broke and had replaced her and another Hong Kong star not involved in the photos incident with Chinese pop act A-One, the newspaper said.
Millions of people in China and Hong Kong have downloaded the pictures of Edison Chen and his starlet lovers in the weeks since the pictures from his laptop were uploaded onto the internet.
Chen, 27, flew back to Hong Kong last week to issue a public apology to the women involved in the scandal and to announce he was abandoning his show business career after completing existing commitments.
More than 2000 people complained when Chung appeared on a charity TV show at the height of the scandal a fortnight ago and she was forced to scrap a public appearance last Saturday when protesters threatened to disrupt her performance.
A 23-year-old computer technician has been charged with using a computer for dishonest intent and has been released on police bail after a series of brief court appearances and a stretch in custody.
The scandal over the pictures has tainted the saccharine-sweet image of Hong Kong's so-called Canto-pop industry whose cheesy romantic melodies sung in Cantonese sell by their millions in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan.
DPA
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