Singer breaks silence to deny allegations of 'forced abortion'

Chinese pop singer Cai Xukun responded to recent allegations on Monday, admitting that he had had a "relationship" with a woman but stressed it was "consensual" and that their "private affairs" had been settled appropriately.

Cai also denied the allegations made on Chinese social media last week that the woman had been underage and that she was forced to have an abortion.

The popular singer's statement came a week after an entertainment blogger who claimed to have inside information made several social media posts alleging that in 2021, Cai had a one-night stand with a woman and asked her to have an abortion after she found herself pregnant a month later.

The posts included screenshots of WeChat chat records, pictures of medical diagnoses and a letter of understanding between the woman and Cai.

"I was single two years ago and had a relationship with Ms C, and the personal matters between the two parties were properly resolved in 2021 with no further entanglements between us," said Cai in a statement that garnered more than five million interactions on microblogging platform Sina Weibo within three hours.

He underscored that the relationship between them was consensual and involved no illegal acts, but he also expressed an apology.

"This lesson for me is painful, these two years I have been in remorse," Cai said, vowing to strictly manage his words and deeds, and accept the public scrutiny.

However, Cai didn't respond to the claim that his mother attempted to monitor the woman by hiring a private investigator and illegally installed a hidden camera in her door because the mother suspected the woman of lying.

Following Cai's statement, his work team also issued a brief statement on its verified Weibo account, denouncing some of the allegations that it said were made up and hyped deliberately to mislead the public.

"These rumors have seriously damaged the singer's personality rights and social public image, and are suspected of insult and defamation," the statement said. It also said that a number of lawsuits had been filed in court, though it didn't reveal against whom.

As of Monday, no brand Cai endorses had announced any changes in their agreements with him.

However, some of those brands, such as Nestle China, L'Oreal and Vivo, which have cooperation deals with the singer, have deleted all promotional content involving Cai on their Weibo accounts.

Furthermore, content related to Cai cannot be found on major apps and websites managed by China Media Group, including the China Central Television News app and cctv.com.

On Friday, Keep Running, a reality show program produced by Zhejiang Television, announced on its Weibo account that the scheduled Friday airing of its program would be postponed due to production adjustments.

According to a preview of the program, Cai was scheduled to appear as a guest together with various well-known celebrities.