Agencies Release Official Statements About Hu Ge and Wang Kai’s Best Actor Controversy

The Huading Awards have caused some pretty serious drama when they announced the nominations for their upcoming 19th annual awards ceremony last Saturday.

Fans were feeling both confused and outraged when Huading announced that Wang Kai (王凱) has been nominated for Best Leading Actor for his role in last year’s The Disguiser <伪装者> instead of Hu Ge (胡歌), who is the male lead. 

Even the crew behind The Disguiser expressed their confusion when the nominations were announced. On their official Weibo, the reps stated, “The Disguiser’s male lead is Teacher Hu Ge. We have never sent applications to the Huading Awards in regards to the nominations. We are currently in active contact. Hopefully the organizers will deal this with care. Thank you.”

Soon after the announcement, various rumors have spread, including one that claimed Wang Kai had pulled some strings to put himself in the running instead of Hu Ge, but his manager, Miss Hu, denied these accusations. “[Wang Kai is] definitely not the male lead, and I am his only manager. Daylight Entertainment is his only agency and we have never applied for anything.”

Wang Kai’s fans expressed their disappointment at the situation and urged both Huading and the studio of The Disguiser to settle the situation quickly as to not further taint Wang Kai’s name. On April 30, Daylight Entertainment released a statement demanding an apology from Huading, adding that Wang Kai would not be accepting any awards from Huading if the matter is not handled properly.

Huading officially responded to the controversy on May 1, stating that Best Leading Actor nominations were selected from popular vote. The panel did not distinguish lead and supporting roles while seeking the public’s opinion. As each actor is only allowed to be nominated once per category, Wang Kai was selected to represent The Disguiser instead of Hu Ge, who was already nominated for Nirvana in Fire <琅琊榜>, which Wang Kai also starred in.

Hu Ge, represented by Tangren Media, uploaded an official statement following Huading’s statement:

“We respect the organizer’s arrangements and we have never expressed dissatisfaction about the status [of Hu Ge’s role],” stated Tangren. “Awards are created to congratulate and encourage the hard-working performances in this industry. It should be a positive thing. Ever since the beginning, Mr. Hu Ge has only cared about performing well in his roles, as well as cherish the collaboration opportunities with outstanding creative teams. The critical success of The Disguiser is all thanks to everyone’s efforts in front and behind the screen. Please do not spread false information or exaggerate the issue.”

Source: Liberty Times Net, QQ, Huading Awards @ Sina Weibo

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.