In a press conference yesterday, Hong Kong star Eric Tsang denied allegations of sexual assault and misconduct which have been swirling around the internet against him since last week, adding that he is taking legal action against one of his accusers.
The 64-year-old filmmaker began Wednesday’s presser by rejecting accusations that he had raped former Hong Kong model and actress Yammie Lam (藍潔瑛) in Singapore in the 1990s. Calling the claim 「fake news,」 Tsang said that a video naming him as one of Lam’s alleged attackers had been edited in order to defame him.
In a video interview published by Hong Kong tabloid Next Magazine in 2013, Lam had claimed that she was raped by two powerful 「big brothers」 of the Hong Kong entertainment industry, however their names were concealed at the time. But, last week, the interview resurfaced and went viral on Weibo, this time with the two names purportedly revealed: Alan Tang, a Hong Kong actor-director-producer who died of a heart attack in 2011, and Eric Tsang.
Tsang has claimed that his name was falsely added by whoever edited the video, asserting that the 「fabrication」 had done damage to his reputation and inflicted 「unnecessary pain」 on his family and friends. He added that he was willing to cooperate fully with any police investigation into the matter.
Yammie Lam
Next, Tsang went after Grace Han (韓穎華), the former Asia-Pacific head of Ford Models, known as the 「Chinese godmother of modeling,」 for a string of allegations she had made on Weibo last week in the wake of the Yammie Lam video resurfacing.
Han wrote that this was far from the only time that Tsang had sexually assaulted female entertainers, accusing him of once trying to spike her and other models』 drinks at a Hong Kong KTV.
Tsang said that Han’s accusations are untrue and added that he was in the process of filing a lawsuit against her for her claims.
Grace Han
The allegations against Tsang come amid a global campaign exposing instances of sexual harassment and assault which has already taken down the careers of Hollywood big shots like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. Tsang is perhaps the biggest name in Asia to so far be accused in the #MeToo movement.
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