The Fallout of the Leehom Wang Joke
When magician Liu Qian teased his co-performer Li Yundi during the 2013 Spring Festival Gala, hosted by China Central Television on February 9, probably no one foresaw that the joke would become one of the hottest topics of the month in China.
Liu Qian's performance was called "The Magic Piano", in which he incorporated piano elements into his magic trick performance. Li Yundi, an internationally celebrated pianist, played the piano and interacted with him throughout the illusion.
In what seemed like an orchestrated gesture, Li Yundi stopped playing and tried to whisper something to Liu Qian. The latter then came out with a line that immediately amazed the audience, stating, "Looking for someone? Who? Get Leehom!"
Viewers found the line amusing because it played upon a rumored gay relationship between Li Yundi and Leehom Wang , the Chinese-American musician and actor, despite both stars having denied the rumor.
Li Yundi and Leehom Wang collaborated on a piano performance at the previous year's gala. This year, they performed separately.
After joking about Li Yundi, Liu Qian proceeded to say, "Sorry, sorry, this year it's me." The performance then continued as normal.
In China's weibo microblogsphere, people quickly responded by calling the joke a major flashpoint of the show. A number of weibo users said they witnessed Leehom Wang slapping Liu Qian backstage.
A war of words between Liu Qian and Li Yundi ensued as an online debate was triggered as to whether Liu Qian's joke was pre-planned or not.
One week after the show, Liu Qian's publicist released a statement saying that the decision to mention Leehom Wang was suggested by Li Yundi's side in the first place.
Li Yundi soon denied the claim, writing on his weibo microblog that he never voiced any suggestions as to what Liu Qian might say during the show.
As fans continued to seek the truth, some weibo users noticed the reactions taken by Leehom Wang. On his weibo, Leehom Wang first denied hitting Liu Qian and even referred to him as his "buddy". Days later, Leehom Wang deleted Li Yundi from th! e list of accounts that he followed, but Liu Qian's account was kept. Li Yundi also deleted Leehom Wang from his list.
Liu Qian recently announced via his publicist that he would be absent from China Central Television's Lantern Festival Gala, which is scheduled to take place on February 24. He originally planned to explain his "Magic Piano" tricks during the Lantern Festival Gala.
(Source: CRI )
In what seemed like an orchestrated gesture, Li Yundi stopped playing and tried to whisper something to Liu Qian. The latter then came out with a line that immediately amazed the audience, stating, "Looking for someone? Who? Get Leehom!"
Viewers found the line amusing because it played upon a rumored gay relationship between Li Yundi and Leehom Wang , the Chinese-American musician and actor, despite both stars having denied the rumor.
Li Yundi and Leehom Wang collaborated on a piano performance at the previous year's gala. This year, they performed separately.
After joking about Li Yundi, Liu Qian proceeded to say, "Sorry, sorry, this year it's me." The performance then continued as normal.
In China's weibo microblogsphere, people quickly responded by calling the joke a major flashpoint of the show. A number of weibo users said they witnessed Leehom Wang slapping Liu Qian backstage.
A war of words between Liu Qian and Li Yundi ensued as an online debate was triggered as to whether Liu Qian's joke was pre-planned or not.
One week after the show, Liu Qian's publicist released a statement saying that the decision to mention Leehom Wang was suggested by Li Yundi's side in the first place.
Li Yundi soon denied the claim, writing on his weibo microblog that he never voiced any suggestions as to what Liu Qian might say during the show.
As fans continued to seek the truth, some weibo users noticed the reactions taken by Leehom Wang. On his weibo, Leehom Wang first denied hitting Liu Qian and even referred to him as his "buddy". Days later, Leehom Wang deleted Li Yundi from th! e list of accounts that he followed, but Liu Qian's account was kept. Li Yundi also deleted Leehom Wang from his list.
Liu Qian recently announced via his publicist that he would be absent from China Central Television's Lantern Festival Gala, which is scheduled to take place on February 24. He originally planned to explain his "Magic Piano" tricks during the Lantern Festival Gala.
(Source: CRI )
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