Godfrey Gao Transported Back to Taiwan; Funeral to Be Held on December 15
Shock and grief spread when Taiwanese-Canadian actor, Godfrey Gao (高以翔), died on November 27 after collapsing in cardiac arrest on the set of Chinese reality show Chase Me <追我吧> in Ningbo. The 35-year-old actor was sent to the hospital, but his life could not be saved. Godfrey’s second brother Charles Gao (高宇橋) transported his body back to Taiwan today, where the actor will lay to rest.
At the airport terminal, Godfrey’s eldest brother and workers received the actor’s coffin, where he was later transported to Taipei’s The First Funeral Parlor. Godfrey’s 23-year-old girlfriend, Bella, and his family, who had flown to Ningbo last week after the actor’s passing, were seen in Taipei today receiving his coffin in grief.
For the memorial services, his mother chose a photo of Godfrey with his trademark wide smile. She hopes that loved ones and fans will remember Godfrey’s warm personality which had touched many people while he was alive.
The actor’s funeral service will be held on December 15. Godfrey will be buried in Chin Pao San Cemetry, a private cemetery in New Taipei where other celebrities Teresa Teng (鄧麗君), King Hu (胡金銓), and Li Tien-lu (李天祿) also rest.
This article is written by Hailey for JayneStars.com.
Leaked Footage Shows Godfrey Gao Struggling to Keep Up Minutes Before Death
I know he died from a heart failure, but what caused it?
This is so sad and hope his family stays strong. His parents and brothers must be heartbroken and my deepest condolences and sympathies to them. They should remember Godfrey for how he lived not how he passed.
@hetieshou
We “talked” about this before. His parents have to bury him & it’s the hardest thing for any parent. They have to be very strong to get through this. Mom knows best. His mom picked such a good picture of him here. I’m still angry that it seems like nothing is happening to the the production company so far. I hope his death is not in vain. I expect at least something positive comes out of this like there will be stricter rules for this kind of shows. Also they need to be held accountable if something happens. They need to have health professionals standby in case of emergency.
@dramas4me
Something will be done. The Chinese have always taken their time and is rational when it comes to decision making. There’s too much public discontent for this to be slipped underneath the radar.
@anon
@wm2017
@llwy12
I hope you are right that something will be done/deal with about this tragic event. A young life is lost. The pain that it causes to those who love him. It’s unbelievable that the production company hasn’t done anything with the case (press conference and explaining). How can these people sleep at night knowing what they have done to him?
@dramas4me Exactly. I hope the fans stay on top of this and continue to hound Zhejiang until they respond appropriately because the family is grieving right now so holding Zhejiang accountable is probably the last thing on their minds. Though in all honesty, I will say that I’m worried now that, even later after everything is settled, Godfrey’s family may not pursue the matter further and if they don’t, that means his management company and his friends aren’t going to either….I don’t know Godfrey, but from all the stuff his friends have said so far, the gist I get is that he was a kind-hearted person whose family and friends meant the world to him and he wouldn’t want to see them suffer because of him. One of Godfrey’s childhood friends (who had hopped on a plane immediately when he heard that Godfrey had collapsed, but arrived too late, as Godfrey had died before the plane landed) said that when he got off the plane and saw the Zhejiang people there, he was so angry that his first reaction was that he wanted to punch them, but then he saw Godfrey’s parents treating the Zhejiang people kindly and telling them they understood no one wanted this to happen, etc., and so he immediately tamped down his anger, as he remembered that Godfrey’s legacy is “kindness” and he didn’t want to tarnish that. Based on that and a few other things I’ve read (including an article this morning where Godfrey’s mother told his friends to stay strong and not let Godfrey continue to worry about them, as he wouldn’t be able to rest in peace), I don’t get the feeling that they will aggressively pursue Zhejiang for answers, even later after everything has settled….if that’s the case, then it will be up to the fans and the general public to pursue justice…
I hope this isn’t one of those cases where the guilty party gets off scot-free because the artist and/or their loved ones are too “nice” to hold them accountable. I don’t want this to turn out like Simon Yam’s case, where, being the nice person that he is, he chose to let bygones be bygones and not press charges against the guy who attacked him (and he told his management company not to pursue it either), which essentially let the guy walk away without having to answer for his actions….
@dramas4me indeed it’s white haired people sending black haired people off
How sad to learn about the unfortunate passing of a talented, vibrant, handsome young man! I find that reality shows are endangering their participants’ lives for the sake of ratings, taking the competition to the extremes just to test the human endurance. Of course participants want to out do each other and win, so they often push themselves to “save face” by not listening to their own bodies to slow down or quit earlier! RIP Mr. Gao! Heaven has welcomed a bright angel!
@ace818 For me, what makes Godfrey’s passing even more sad is that he appeared on the show not because of money but because of a favor for a friend, which now cost him his life. According to the latest reports, Godfrey had bumped into one of the show’s regular participants, actor Huang Jingyu, whom he was friends with, at an awards ceremony and Huang invited him to guest star on the show…Godfrey said yes even before Huang got the chance to explain details of the show to him…can’t imagine what that friend must be going through right now…
I read that there is a movement right now among Godfrey’s fans and general audiences to boycott Zhejiang Television because of their lack of response and overall the way they seem to not want to take any responsibility. Their public image is in the toilet right now what with all the leaked footage about delays in getting Godfrey medical attention, the nonchalant attitudes of the director and crew and also the execs at the station…also the fact that they were still promoting the Chase Me show and had it on their broadcast schedule days after Godfrey’s death, etc…
I agree with the above that definitely this is not going to slip under the radar easily…there will definitely be repercussions, it’s just a matter of when and how severe…
@llwy12 Exactly, he took a guest fee meaning he really didn’t care about the money. I know, I would feel like dying too if I invited my friend to something and he died b/c of it. What I don’t understand is does he know he’s overworking himself at the time and if he says NO to can’t participate as scheduled did he have to pay a huge sum for not showing up such and such? I mean probably management have to do w/it too you can just simply say no to something. OMG…whatever it is now, he died over a stupid show like this and that’s why it’s so hard for ppl to accept even if you don’t know or a fan of his esp when most people say he’s kind and a gentleman off screen as well. The good died young. :o(
@wm2017 I had read that the regular participants on the show had to sign a restrictive contract that basically didn’t allow them to say no to whatever they were asked to do….and there was verbiage in there along the lines of “if anything happens, it’s your issue, we take no responsibility”….not sure if guest stars had to sign the same contract or not (I doubt it, but then again, I’m not familiar with that show or exactly how things work over there so can’t really say for sure).
I definitely know what you mean about people not being able to accept Godfrey’s death, even those that don’t know him. I actually had no clue who he was prior to this, as I don’t follow Taiwan entertainment nowadays as much as I used to and I don’t follow Mainland China entertainment a whole lot either…yet the last few days, reading all the news about his death and seeing all the posts and videos from his friends, their memories of what a good person he was, I actually got teary-eyed at one point. And all that stuff about Zhejiang Television got me mad too…
Did you guys hear that piece about one of Godfrey’s close friends saying that he and his girlfriend Bella’s families were scheduled to meet for dinner the next night (11/28) during which he was planning to propose to her (Godfrey had called up his friend a few days before to make sure he would be available that day to help surprise her)? I got a lump in my throat when I read that. So sad!!
@llwy12 That reminds me of that show that I used to tuned in a long time ago no matter how gross it was I still tuned in. lol. It was called ‘Fear Factor’ n it was only for a measly 50K for eating maggott pizza, swimming w/snakes or whatever dangerous craaap to eat or challenge I don’t even remember much now but basically all disgusting stuff. I did hear at the time that the contestants have to sign something for competing prob really relates to death that they are not responsible such and such and not sure if they have medical team ready esp on the ones that’s filmed in a damn mountain or remote areas but I guess no one got hurt from that stupid show as we never heard about it when it was broadcast. Like you I don’t follow a lot of china or taiwan dramas either and even if I did tune in on utube I was never able to finish the whole series even thou he’s eye candy but seriously how can you forget that height and handsome looking face? I thought one of these days he’s bound to come out w/a great project that will make him popular if not super popular now. One of my colleagues watched his Hollywood debut ‘The Mortal Instruments’ and she was so looking forward to more of the movies even thou it’s probably not happening since that movie was a while ago but she was a huge fan of the books. She was shell-shocked to hear it on entertainment news before I even got a chance to tell her. Sigh…. Oh my lord! That is so damn sad really. I did not hear that news. The very last news I heard was on that show that was introduced here on JStars and I was so looking to that series next year which I heard wrapped up a few months ago and that costar of his was posting such sweet stuff about bumping into him a few days earlier at a function, asking her if she’s thirsty specifically went and got her water, telling her to go to taiwan and he will show her around n get good food or whatever and such a fine good person he was. Really seem like a nice person. Sigh… Life is so freaking unpredictable and unfair sometimes.
@wm2017 I think that’s one of the reasons why people are so pissed at Zhejiang TV and are demanding answers. Chase Me was one of those high-risk shows where even well-trained Olympic athletes had gotten hurt previously, so you would think it’s a no-brainer that they would have not just a doctor but an entire medical team at the ready to jump into action at a time like that…but that didn’t seem to happen, at least based on what witnesses at the scene said. Like others have mentioned in the other threads, when it comes to things like a heart attack, how quickly you get medical attention makes a huge difference in whether you live through it (I’m not a doctor but even I know this stuff)…if the production team for Chase Me is going to do such a dangerous show, I would think the right thing to do is to understand all potential risks, study up on how to handle potential crises/emergency situations, ensure all proper precautions are taken, and make sure everyone working knows the protocol….THAT’s the professional way to do it. But from all the stuff that has come out so far, it looks like the production team didn’t do any of that: the director was sitting on the sidelines eating melon seeds; the camera man and the rest of the production team had no clue what was going on — they thought Godfrey collapsing was a “stunt” so they kept filming; there were obviously no doctors there, or at least none who appeared right away, as the celebrities kept yelling “help!” and “where’s a doctor?”…sure, a lot of this stuff may just be rumored or whatnot (though some of it was captured on video) but that’s why the fans and general public are demanding an explanation from Zhejiang TV to clarify exactly what happened…but up to this point, they’ve been largely silent except for releasing two generic statements about the “regrettable” situation (not even an apology!) I would think that with something this severe (a celebrity lost his life) the station should’ve at least had a press conference to explain initial findings and give people a chance to ask questions…but perhaps that’s not the way things are done over there.
Also, the rumored contract thing has created quite a stir too because some people are saying the ownness is on the celebrity who agreed to participate knowing the risks (and thereby Zhejiang shouldn’t be held liable), but to be honest, that “excuse” doesn’t fly because Godfrey was a guest star — its not known whether he even signed a contract for one, and two, he likely did not know the show was going to be this strenuous — physically challenging yes, but something he would still be able to handle, which makes sense because keep in mind, he probably knows little to nothing about the show overall (and who knows if anyone bothered to explain to him). But even so, it’s a bit of a moot point to me because whether the celebrity knew or not, it’s up to the production team to do the right thing like I described earlier.
@llwy12
You should watch some of Godfrey’s works. I like his acting and screen presence. He was talented, kind and hardworking. So sad that his life was cut short, especially just a day before he was going to propose to his girlfriend. Fate is so cruel to him, his girlfriend and family.
@llwy12
This makes it even sadder as I bet Johnny Huang is devastated as he was the one who invited Godfrey. Of course we should not blame Johnny as he did not know that this would happen. Godfrey was such a wonderful person and hope he is in a better and happier place now. He was truly an angel.
I think what makes it extremely depressing is the fact that he is such a nice guy. Good-looking & Young
Really sad and loss of such talented artist. Good looking & humble personality.
A big lesson to learn the risks from reality shows etc… all these started w Korean Running Man. Not easy to be celebrities
RIP