Canadian Singer Kris Wu Sentenced to Prison for Rape in China

Kris Wu, a Canadian Chinese pop singer who was once one of China’s most popular entertainers, was found guilty of rape by a Beijing court and sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the country to be punished for #MeToo allegations.

In a statement on social media the Chaoyang District People’s Court in Beijing said Mr. Wu was convicted of taking advantage of three drunken women and forcibly having sex with them at his home in 2020. He was also found guilty of “gathering a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities,” the court said.

Before his arrest in 2021, Mr. Wu, who is known in China as Wu Yifan, was a superstar with tens of millions of followers on social media. Born in China and raised partly in Canada, he rose to fame as a member of the Korean pop band EXO before establishing a successful solo career as a model, singer and actor. He had endorsement deals with more than a dozen prominent domestic and international brands, including Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Porsche.

But his career came crashing down when he was accused by an 18-year-old university student of enticing young women like herself to his home to discuss potential career opportunities and then plying them with alcohol before pressuring them for sex. The accuser, Du Meizhu, said she believed that Mr. Wu had done this to other young women.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/business/kris-wu-china-rape.html