Foreign Policy reports via a Chinese site that the country’s authorities are banning the broadcast of movies and television shows involving actors “who have engaged in ‘illegal behavior’ such as drugs or prostitution.”
Citing the role of broadcast media as an “important vessel” for “transmitting socialist culture and core values,” the new regulations claim that the illegal behavior of actors has “corrupted the social atmosphere” and creates a “detrimental influence on the development of many young people.”
Authorities have detained a string of Chinese celebrities this year as the government has launched multiple campaigns against pornography, corruption, prostitution, and other perceived social ills. Following President Xi Jinping’s injunction in June to “strike hard” against illegal drugs, Chinese authorities have made several high-profile drug busts, including the Sept. 17 arrest of Jaycee Chan, the son of Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, one month after the younger Chan was found smoking marijuana in his Beijing apartment. Authorities detained popular star Huang Haibo in May and famed Chinese director Wang Quan’an in September, both under suspicion of having sex with prostitutes.
This Guardian piece details more legal pursuit of entertainers, noting four others (including a writer and a reality TV star) sanctioned for drug use in recent months. Forty Beijing arts organizations, the article says, recently agreed with police not to hire performers who are “involved with drugs.”
