Wong Hei Regards Steven Ma and Patrick Tang as “Traitors”
Since the outbreak of corruption allegations against TVB General Manager, Stephen Chan Chi Wan, many artists, such as Steven Ma Chun Wai and Patrick Tang who were once favored by Mr. Chan have distanced themselves to avoid legal entanglement and TVB’s spite.
Allegedly due to his ties to Mr. Chan, Steven Ma filmed three TVB series in 2009 and even took on a hosting role. Recent tabloids claimed that Steven was involved in a homosexual love triangle with Mr. Chan. To dispel tabloid rumors, Steven publicly introduced his girlfriend to reporters and said that his relationship was “very strong.” In essence, Steven was attempting to remove his name from Mr. Chan’s scandal. Allegedly, Wong Hei regards Steven poorly and criticized his behavior.
In reaction to the media’s negative assessment of his recent behavior, Steven posted a swift commentary in his blog, “I am not a person who is afraid [to stand up]. I will not sit back quietly due to fear of losing fame or fortune.” Steven explained that he was not feeling well earlier, thus his girlfriend made the public appearance with him. He expressed his sadness over the public’s perception and urged people not to misinterpret his actions.
Patrick Tang, who once referred to Mr. Chan as his “Honey” due to their close friendship, has only sent SMS text messages to his former benefactor. In his personal blog, Patrick did not mention a word about Mr. Chan’s scandal. Patrick posted a close-up photo of his tears to convey his “saddened state” over the situation. He urged his fans to not forget about his past hard work, thus drawing a clear line between himself and Mr. Chan.
The Origins of Wong Hei and Mr. Chan’s Friendship
Since the ICAC detained Mr. Chan on March 12th, Wong Hei has stood by Mr. Chan to show his support. Wong Hei noted that he can not abandon Mr. Chan, who has helped him in the past. When Wong Hei joined Commercial Radio Broadcasting in 1992, he became friendly with Mr. Chan, who was also a fellow Buddhist at the time. Although Mr. Chan converted to Catholicism in later years, the pair remained good friends and continued to meet once per week.
Wong Hei followed Mr. Chan’s footsteps and joined TVB in the early 1990s. Mr. Chan backed up Wong Hei in his early TVB career. In 2006, Wong Hei climbed Mount Everest and Mr. Chan was present at the press conference to show his support. In 2008, allegedly Wong Hei and Kevin Cheng Ka Wing did not get along together on the set of “Burning Flame 3” (烈火雄心3). Since Kevin was heavily favored by TVB executive, Virginia Lok Yi Ling, Wong Hei got into conflict with Ms. Lok as well. Wong Hei announced his departure from TVB, but Mr. Chan invited him to come back. Due to their past camaraderie, Wong Hei has continued to show support for Mr. Chan amidst the corruption scandal.
Wong Hei Criticizes TVB’s Mona Fong
In Wong Hei’s personal blog, he wrote a recent entry about TVB’s “bad feng shui.” Hidden behind obscure feng shui verbose, the paparazzi believed Wong Hei was attacking TVB in an indirect way. Allegedly, Wong Hei implied that since TVB was led by a woman (Sir Run Run Shaw’s wife, Mona Fong) , the company made poor decisions, entangled itself in the corruption, and will be headed towards its demise. [Wong Hei alluded that Ms. Fong made emotional and judgmental decisions in Mr. Chan’s case.] Boldly, he implied that if TVB were run by a man, this would not have occurred.
Good Friends Stand By Each Other
After Mr. Chan held a press conference on March 18th, Wong Hei brought a Public Relations executive and Metro Radio executive to Mr. Chan’s house to show their support. That night, Wong Hei wore a T-shirt with the slogan, “More Respect, Less Attack.”
Wong Hei has taken on the role of Mr. Chan’s “spokesperson” in dealing with the paparazzi. At a Hong Kong University event on March 19th, Mr. Chan was a featured speaker. Wong Hei arrived early on site to make all the preparations and did not leave with Mr. Chan until 5 PM. When departing, Wong Hei walked in front of Mr. Chan to fend off the crowds.
Even Mr. Chan’s rumored boyfriend, Ed Cong, went into hiding for nine days since the corruption investigation started. Ed only responded to text messages from several reporter acquaintances. On March 21st, Ed finally emerged from the site of one of his public relations firms. When Ed realized he was followed by reporters, he ran several traffic lights before returning to his apartment in Stanley. Ed’s apartment was rumored to be a gift purchased by Mr. Chan.
Amigo Chui, who is one of Mr. Chan’s favorite TVB artists, visited Mr. Chan on March 16th. Amigo went to Mr. Chan’s apartment at 9 PM and stayed until midnight. Since the scandal broke, Leo Ku Gui Kei has also met with Mr. Chan on two occasions.
Source: Tom.com, 3 Weekly Magazine
Jayne: Kudos to Wong Hei, whom I had always admired for his integrity and out-spoken ways. He is an artist who is unafraid to play the “wrong politics” and stand by his friends. If Mr. Chan ever makes a come-back (ATV, wake-up here’s your chance to snag a talented manager!), he’ll know who was there during the tough times.
Despite his talent, Wong Hei’s outspoken ways has cost his career. With the departure of Mr. Chan, Wong Hei will likely leave TVB as well.
As for Steven Ma and Patrick Tang, perhaps they have been less vocal and reserved towards Mr. Chan’s scandal. Steven Ma may still have a career left at TVB, but Patrick Tang’s is likely over.
Wong Hei sounds so righteous, just as all the character he plays. He’s a great actor but it’s a pity TVB never promotes him. In that picture, he looks so drained and old, poor guy.
Wong Hei can be very politically incorrect sometimes. Despite his views which may offend others, he is nevertheless a very talented man.
With his criticism of Mona Fong, looks like we won’t be seeing much of him in future TVB series anymore.
if one commited a crime, than one should be sentense,otherwise innocent like Steve, unless involved, regardly if Steve is bi or homo are not the issue, but is’nt those many are in the ent. ind., lol
wong-hei should’nt have so if did, but how influential is Hei about Steve and patricks tvb career is the question to ask, or ass!?
everything has a dark side of it,, u r right Jayne,,, we won’t seeing much of his series at TVB much more,,, maybe China Series
Ehh.. The article makes Wong Hei come off as a sexist..
Why would it be better for TVB if it was managed by a man? Does the ability to manage a company have anything to do with gender?
I wouldn’t exactly call Steven and Patrick traitors, I mean in that business it can be dangerous to get too close to people who are in the public eye and especially if they’re in the public eye because of something negative…
On a sidenote, happy to see you’re back Jayne! 🙂
thanks for your stories for fans who only read English, like me! Missed your stories for a while. Keep up the good job!
Tratiors is such strong words for wong hei to use if that is just his oppion. Just cuz Steven and Patrick is not as vocal abot mr. Stephen chan case as wong hei himself does not mean they do not care about mr.chan… Everyone has there own way of careing or supporting other people wither it’s physically or mentally, therefore wong hei should not attack other artist in the tvb industry. Wong hei is not doub a great actor, but sud keep his politcal comments to himself and let the judge handle mr.chan case.
P.S. As for Steven ma i think he is doing a wonderful job of his part by making good tvb dramas (series) and not being any part of the tvb political talks, also yay for Steven fo keepin his comment about mr.chan case to himself. As for Patrick I have no comments about him and wishes him luck in this industry for the future.
Also I want to thx Jayne for creating this website and to bring us all the tvb new from Chinese to English. im a great fan of tvb and also your fan. Looking forward to read more news and updates. Thank you very much!!
wat does wong hei mean by “Wong Hei implied that since TVB was led by a woman (Sir Run Run Shaw’s wife, Mona Fong) , the company made poor decisions, entangled itself in the corruption, and will be headed towards its demise” … is he saying woman cant take control, and make good decisions???
Wong Hei did not directly call Steven nor Patrick traitors, but the sense of betrayal of Mr. Chan is implied in many reports, which is why I used the word in quotation marks in the title.
Also, Wong Hei’s blog post is shrouded in feng shui verbose. He did not directly criticize that a woman is leading TVB improperly. It is the media’s interpretation. To say he is sexist may be too far. If he did intend to criticize the current leadership, it is likely that he is criticizing Ms. Fong only and not necessarily all women.
thanks jayne for the clarification. i actually thought he was pretty filthy for having such traditional views on women.
i can always rely on jayne to clear up the vagueness the media throws out there!
Standby You-Steven + Wong Hei
Although I am happy that Wong Hei is so outspoken and will speak his mind, I am quite offended with the statement about how TVB being run by a woman is causing it’s downfall. Sexist much?
I hope Steven would not be impacted by this. It would be such a lost for viewers to not able to see more series made by him as he is such a great actor.
Welcome back Jayne.
Your return seems much better than before. This site is really a good channel for TVB fans who only understand English like me. 🙂
I admire Wong Hei talent in acting but sometimes his outspoken attitude will hurt others. This is just my opinion, I don’t agree with the way he show his support towards Stephen Chan. It kinds of giving me the feeling that he is trying to gain publicity from the incident.
Sinners are sinners, no matter how stephen chan want us to see, he will be rejected from HKU ballroom !
John Chan says:
May 6, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Sinners are sinners, no matter how stephen chan want us to see, he will be rejected from HKU ballroom !
I think this is too harsh a comment. You have to walk in Steven Chan’s shoes to know for sure he’s guilty or not. As for Wong Hei taking advantage to gain publicity,this is even far-fetched. Duh!By being involved in a case that has caused some ripple in TVB is like putting a death knell on his career. It takes strong faith and loyalty to stand by someone whom he believes.
I cant believe wong he would talk about people like this. especially about steven. i am very disappointed about the words that he is using to express what he feels.
Love Wong Hei
Patrick Tang sucks losers
Stephen so so
In general, actors should just stick to their job, i.e., acting and should leave politics well alone. This will only invite problems on themselves. However, as I see it, Wong Hei had earlier , I think, explained that in the past Mr. Chan had helped him a great deal and this was one way of helping him back, and that is, to remain utterly loyal to him through thick and thin. I don’t think he was helping him out for any ulterior motive.
Whatever it is….from the past 13 years ago…my love and support to Wong Hei are never end…he may don’t know…but I always pray he will know oneday later…
A provcaotive insight! Just what we need!
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