Celebrities face verbal violence for backing Hong Kong movement

BEIJING: Several movie stars and other celebrities have become targets of a “get out of Mainland” campaign on the Chinese social media. The attack is reserved for celebrities, who have backed the month long pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Nearly 50,000 netizens have joined this campaign, according to the official media. The government controlled media is also asking why entertainers are indulging in political gimmicks while risking their popularity and future incomes.
The campaign comes in the midst of official actions that include sacking a business tycoon, and blacklisting a few movie makers and stars for criticizing CY Leung, the government appointed chief executive of Hong Kong, and supporting the 'Occupy Central' movement, as it is called.
The official media is doing its bit to fan the public fury against “tainted celebrities” who have backed the Hong Kong movement. The state run Xinhua News Agency has run a commentary condemning actors Chapman To and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang and singer Denise Ho for supporting the ‘Occupy Central’.
Many celebrities, dubbed ‘unpatriotic’ by netizens have seen their personal social media pages bombarded with thousands of angry comments and vulgar remarks in a sign of rising verbal violence.
The effect was evident when producers of a film, Aberdeen, deleted the name and image of ‘tainted’ star Chapman To from marketing materials. The film was still a commercial failure though one cannot say with certainty that the Internet outcry was the reason.
The public outcry against supporters of the movement has resulted in the poor showing of a movie, “Café waiting love” by director Giddens Ko. He had earlier opposed China’s move to integrate with Taiwan, and is not backing the Hong Kong movement, the official Global Times, said.
Tainting celebrities for their statements in favor of the agitation are another set of celebrities including Chinese author Author Lu Tianming, who called on the censors to “temporarily ban them”.
Writing in Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, he said, "Some celebrities, especially those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, on the one hand openly support independence movements in Hong Kong or Taiwan and engage in separatist activities. On the other hand, they rely heavily on China's mainland as their source of income.”
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, China's media watchdog, recently said that tainted artists will be banned from television and film screens. They included actor Jacyee Chan, son of megastar Jackie Chan, and Kai Ko, a Taiwanese movie star.