Chinese-Canadian star Wu to serve 13 years for rape

Chinese-Canadian star Kris Wu, who tricked women into having sex, was sentenced by a Beijing court on Friday.

Wu will serve 13 years in prison after being convicted of rape and assembling a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities by the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court.

He will be deported after he serves the sentence in China.

From November to December 2020, Wu had sex with three women at his residence against their will after they became drunk and were unable to resist, according to the court. And on July 1, 2018, Wu worked with others to arrange for two other women to engage in promiscuous activities after they drank alcohol in his home.

The court said that his behavior merited the sentence, noting that it was given based on the facts of the cases.

Officials from the Canadian Embassy in China attended the ruling.

Wu, 32, who once had more than 50 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, was detained by Chaoyang police on July 31 last year after being accused of tricking women into having sex.

Soon afterwards, the Chaoyang procuratorate approved his arrest on suspicion of rape.

His trial began in June, but the case was not heard publicly out of concern for the victims' privacy.

The incident drew heavy public attention in June last year after a woman calling herself Du Meizhu posted statements online alleging that Wu had lured young women and girls under the age of 18 to have sex with him in the name of recruiting actresses. Du claimed that she was one of the victims.

After the case was exposed, a number of brands cut ties with the star, who was born in Guangdong province, and his promotional events were canceled.

TV, film and music industry associations in China have since called for celebrities to behave themselves, focus more on their professions to advance the development of the entertainment industry and set a good example for the public.

The country's regulators for cyberspace, radio and television also stepped up efforts to regulate the entertainment industry, launching a campaign targeting online variety shows in a bid to curb the irrational worship of superstars and misconduct committed by fans while supporting their idols.

Separately on Friday, Wu was fined about 600 million yuan ($83 million) for tax evasion, according to the Beijing Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration.