Sean Xiao’s Popularity Takes a Dive Following Netizens’ Boycott
After breakout star Sean Xiao’s (肖战) role in The Untamed <陈情令> <陈情令> became a hit among viewers, his popularity soared, and he was branded as the hottest idol with the highest potential for greater success. His commercial value immediately increased, and Sean was offered multiple projects and endorsements left and right. Although he was undoubtedly on the road to stardom, everything came crashing down when netizens boycotted his works because of a censorship controversy caused by his diehard fans.
His supporters reported the Lofter app and website A03 to the Chinese government after netizens created a digital picture of Sean as a woman for a fanfiction. The Chinese government swiftly banned many fanfictions on Lofter and blocked China’s access to AO3. This caused an uproar, and netizens began a boycott of Sean’s works. As a result, most of his projects are on hold, and his contract is under review by his agency. This abrupt turn of events could cause Sean to drop to rock bottom and become an 18-line artist.
Although Sean was only collateral damage from the controversy, it is difficult for companies to offer the actor opportunities or continue their collaboration with him when the priority is to make profits. If this incident didn’t occur, Sean would’ve still been highly regarded in the industry and experiencing more fame. He had dramas lined up for broadcast and a film project to begin this year. But many of his collaborations were halted, and most of his current projects are also under significant reconsideration due to the controversy.
Having lost popularity as quickly as Sean gained them in the first place, this unfortunate situation highlighted how good-looking and popular actors are heavily commoditized in the entertainment industry. Since the circle never lacked attractive people with high commercial value, it was easy to put a stop on the promotion of Sean due to his rapid decline in popularity.
Furthermore, Sean does not come from a traditional acting background, so his lack of skills is disadvantageous and makes him even more of an easy target for replacement. With his career facing great uncertainties, there’s a chance he’ll fall back to the lower ranks if the situation isn’t effectively managed.
Source: Sina
This article is written by Minna for JayneStars.com.
Sean Xiao Embroiled in a Censorship Controversy Because of His Diehard Fans
I think this whole thing is so unfair and stupid. XZ didn’t even do anything. I think the person who should be blamed is the person who started that fanfiction. He should sue that person for damaging his name, image and his career. It’s scary that someone can just easily destroy his career – how hard he worked for all these years. He is so talented and such a good guy. I have never liked an artist like him. Like many people i started to like him after watching “The Untamed” and i started to find his other works like “Our Song” and his earlier days with the boy group (X-NINE) He is a talented actor, great singer & dancer, so likable because of his talents and sweet personality. Why can’t good producers, directors, etc. help him out?
I think it would be great investments for them? Yes. I know there are plenty of actors out there, but how often can they find someone like Xiao Zhan?
@dramas4me Blaming the fanfic writer is the type of thinking that started this whole mess. Suing the fanfic writer would not have earned him any points and would have made matters worse. I’m sure you know fanfic is all about fiction and fantasy, they are not to be taken seriously as factual account. It’s because his so called die hard fans didn’t even have the brain cells to understand the difference between fiction and reality is what’s led to this big mess.
I would still like to believe that he is the victim in all of this, that it’s a matter of his more crazy, obsessive fans acting on their own, resulting in the overextreme backlash that dragged him into it. As much as I love AO3, fanfics and personal freedoms, the backlash HAS been completely out of proportion…people were calling for his death ffs. If he really had no say in the matter, then he’s a true victim and now his career could be irreversibly destroyed. If things really are as dire as this report is making it out to be, where even his shitty management company is reviewing his contract (even though their weak AF PR statement didn’t help him at all), then I think it’s about time that maybe he should find a means to speak out on his own and just clear things up. Not to apologize per se, but at least to say where he stands on all this controversy. I think most would appreciate some word from him. Hell, he could even say something like, “look, I wasn’t thrilled about my image being used in that way (in the fanfic), it does creep me out, but I didn’t intend for my fans to react the way they did and to cause so much heartache for people…I will always appreciate my fans but it hurts me if their actions hurt others and while I have no control over them as individuals, I can only hope that if people want to continue to support me, please think about your actions and not hurt others on my behalf. Sorry it has taken me so long to say something, I had no choice in the matter until now.” Something like that. If he can’t say it on his weibo cuz his management company is holding him hostage, then have a “friend” leak out a statement or something. I think there’s still a way to repair his career but he better act fast if things has really gotten this bad.
@dalebaines
I agree with what you said about what XZ should do and of course not apologizing, but i still blame the fanfiction person. The crazy fans have to be responsible for their own actions – not him. You wouldn’t say the same thing if it happened to you personally. He is a guy and this person made him a female. It’s just wrong period.
@dramas4me They made him a female in a work of FICTION, if I were him, why would I care? The story was posted on a FANFIC site with probably the proper disclaimers and tags…no one should be angry about something like that, especially not him. As an actor he would probably one day be called upon to dress up as a female for some reason or another (like in a role for comedic purposes or whatever), what’s the big deal? For someone who campaigned to get the role of Wei Wuxian, which is a character in a well-known BL novel, I would be shocked if he’s that conservative and uptight. I think you can give him more credit than that.
It’s already enough that the Chinese government is policing people’s creative freedom, I don’t think we as fans in a fandom should do more of that. If a fictional story offends someone, no one is forcing them to read it. They can just move on. Easy as that. I would like to think Xiao Zhan is intelligent and open-minded enough to think the same way. It’s too bad SOME of his fans weren’t intelligent enough to do that (for the record, not all of his fans are crazy, some are actually nice and sane), and that’s how this whole mess was created. The blame lies wholly on those particular crazy, policing fans and them alone, no one else.
@dalebaines I agree with you on the fact that he has to take some kind of action regardless of how small it is if he wants to stop this situation but I disagree with the fact of him apologizing on behalf of those crazy fans, in the first place he had nothing to do with this situation he wasn’t involved in the fanfiction work nor in the retaliation of his fans & still wasn’t responsible for the government’s decision his name was just dragged because it’s his fans.. so why should he take responsibility? The only reason I agree he should talk is bcz he has gotten too much damage in the situation & has been the most wronged & should make a move to change the situation before it’s too late… But again I think that the management might have told him to keep on the low till it’s forgotten which is also a really efficient move in such situation with all the Corona virus crisis going on in the world people are way too concerned about that than some fandom drama so they will mostly forget about it by next couple of weeks & then I guess he might speak up again
@zegdapitra I think we actually have the same exact opinion on this; you might have misunderstood what I was saying. I don’t think he should apologize for his fans’ behavior, that’s not his responsibility, but more like a statement of where he stands with the whole situation and maybe how he disapproves of people hurting others on his behalf. There’s definitely a difference; it’s all in the wording really.
@dramas4me The one should be blamed is his fans. Fanfiction is there long time ago.
His is really a unfortunate victim. Those fans are really not worth having.
I would still like to believe that he is the victim in all of this, that it’s a matter of his more crazy, obsessive fans acting on their own, resulting in the overextreme backlash that dragged him into it. As much as I love AO3, fanfics and personal freedoms, the backlash HAS been completely out of proportion…people were calling for his death ffs. If he really had no say in the matter, then he’s a true victim and now his career could be irreversibly destroyed. If things really are as dire as this report is making it out to be, where even his shitty management company is reviewing his contract (even though their weak AF PR statement didn’t help him at all), then I think it’s about time that maybe he should find a means to speak out on his own and just clear things up. Not to apologize per se, but at least to say where he stands on all this controversy. I think most would appreciate some word from him. Hell, he could even say something like, “look, I wasn’t thrilled about my image being used in that way (in the fanfic), it does creep me out, but I didn’t intend for my fans to react the way they did and to cause so much heartache for people…I will always appreciate my fans but it hurts me if their actions hurt others and while I have no control over them as individuals, I can only hope that if people want to continue to support me, please think about your actions and not hurt others on my behalf. Sorry it has taken me so long to say something, I had no choice in the matter until now.” Something like that. If he can’t say it on his weibo cuz his management company is holding him hostage, then have a “friend” leak out a statement or something. I think there’s still a way to repair his career but he better act fast if things has really gotten this bad.
I would still like to believe that he is the victim in all of this, that it’s a matter of his more crazy, obsessive fans acting on their own, resulting in the overextreme backlash that dragged him into it. As much as I love AO3, fanfics and personal freedoms, the backlash HAS been completely out of proportion…people were calling for his death ffs. If he really had no say in the matter, then he’s a true victim and now his career could be irreversibly destroyed. If things really are as dire as this report is making it out to be, where even his shitty management company is reviewing his contract (even though their weak AF PR statement didn’t help him at all), then I think it’s about time that maybe he should find a means to speak out on his own and just clear things up. Not to apologize per se, but at least to say where he stands on all this controversy. I think most would appreciate some word from him. Hell, he could even say something like, “look, I wasn’t thrilled about my image being used in that way (in the fanfic), it does creep me out, but I didn’t intend for my fans to react the way they did and to cause so much heartache for people…I will always appreciate my fans but it hurts me if their actions hurt others and while I have no control over them as individuals, I can only hope that if people want to continue to support me, please think about your actions and not hurt others on my behalf. Sorry it has taken me so long to say something, I had no choice in the matter until now.” Something like that. If he can’t say it on his weibo cuz his management company is holding him hostage, then have a “friend” leak out a statement or something. I think there’s still a way to repair his career but he better act fast if things has really gotten this bad.
Something went wrong with my comment, sorry for the double posting!
I usually do not comment, just quietly observe from the sidelines reading comments and hitting the like button if the comment speaks to me but I cannot stay quiet with this, to bring down someone who fought so hard to achieve his goals makes me angry and heartbroken, how can you call yourselves fans!? To the companies who cancelled his endorsements you are truly spineless! To those of you waiting for a apology from Xiao Zhan you should be the ones giving him the apology! What exactly should he apologise for!? I am in total disbelief that one shameful, selfish act could deprive him of of everything he worked so hard to achieve Xiao Zhan I don’t know if you will ever see this comment but I just want to say keep fighting, keep climbing toward your dreams, you are a beautiful and humble person, just seeing your smile makes my heart happy, just know that there are still fans who wish the best for you and support you all the way so until you are ready to rise up and become like the Phoenix that you were meant to be I will be right here patiently waiting for you.
@camille66
Thank you! It makes me so mad that someone like him can get hurt like that. There is no justice at all. I hope he will be strong and comes back even stronger to show them what he made of. I’m sure he knows who are his true friends now. Yes. I will always support him because he deserves it.
@camille66 i agree with you. The endorsement company clearly just rides with his popularity. And now that they said they’ll boycott the brand because he endorses it you people would just leave him right there and then.SHAME ON YOU. why are they the only costumers you got.. As for those who insist that he apologize, what!!!!! Are you people loosing all your freaking braincells.!!!why would he do that? Did he do something to harm you?
Its such a shame how shallow this people are..I cant believe that there are people who monopolizes on others fame, and there are people who defame someone…
To Xiao Sean, know that there are still alot of international fan who are praying for you to have courage and this too will pass and you’ll rise up even better and stronger.
FanFic is fanfic. They made him a female but don’t forget that he got all of his popularity from an adaptation of BL novel, I didn’t see any of his fans complaining about that. His fans’ holier than thou attitude causes the downfall of their idol. Beside from what I read in Weibo, his studio/people was behind the fans who reported to authority so he is not completely innocent, the reason he issued an half ass apology and keeps silent.
Projects like dramas or endorsements depend solely on public. It doesn’t take a rocket science to see why business people reluctant to continue working with him. Who’s wants to invest big money on something that won’t bring back profits??
@niangniang From what I know of his studio, unfortunately they have never really acted in his best interests. They didn’t even want him to get the role of Wei Wuxian in the first place. Have you seen how little protection he gets from the fans that mob him in public? His studio is utter crap. He didn’t issue the apology, the studio did. They probably told him to shut up and let them handle it. Who knows.
However, given that, after so much time has passed and things haven’t settled down, I do think at this point he should stop keeping silent and come out to say something. It IS kind of odd how he’s just disappeared, but I’m reluctant to blame him just yet until there’s actual evidence he condoned what his fans did. It’s like committing career suicide and I’m just hard pressed to believe anyone would do that to themselves over something as trivial as a work of fiction.
@dalebaines
after reading blogs from all side in English and Chinese, it was obvious that paid-anti fans infiltrated his more obsessed fanbase with the goal of sabotaging his popularity because he shot to fame like a rocket beyond the level of other actors after Untamed. There were also sub-groups of cyberbullies who entered into the fray with different agendas manipulating public opinion against XZ. During this time when haters demanded a personal apology, he was dealing with the death of his grandfather and involved with his rational fans searching and buying supplies for hospitals in the middle of the corona virus lockdown. With the virus seemingly contained in China, the public has more time sorting out fact from fiction and see him as a victim of cyberbullying Articles from the mainland show that he still has lots of support from brand sponsors and even gained new fans. Some youtube videos also reported he and his mature fans donated and helped promote vegetable products for a village which then sold out. Haters continued stirring up trouble between XZfs and another actor also involved in the promotion by making false accusations that XZ stole the project – quickly disputed by the villagers clarifying both actors were cooperating in the successful promotion. Xiao Zhan’s trials and tribulations practically mirrored Wei Wuxian’s persecution.
@msxie0714 this people were looking an excuse to target someone and that someone was him… I pity these people who are trying to ruin him.
Like whar Wei Wuxian said, “I know I have a clean conscience.”
@msxie0714 while all the things you listed are admirable acts, writing what @dalebaines wrote shouldn’t take longer than 30mins??? Especially if it’s from the heart???
Well said btw @dalebaines. Also I don’t think you need to worry about him. For the past few week, he’s still top 5 trending and influences on weibo (maybe even commercially).
@littlefish Lol, thank you. Maybe I should go into PR. The statement his studio released was so weak, I hope his PR people aren’t being paid a lot cuz they don’t deserve it.
Yeah, I just saw the ranking today, he’s still #1, so I’m even more confused by this article that makes it sound like his career is near over.
@dalebaines
the article above is not up to date! it reflects what happened about 2 to 3 weeks ago. the latest news – his 3 dramas will be released shortly, and he still has brand endorsements.
@msxie0714
Life is about making choices. IF he think that all of the things you were listed like granddad and hospital supplies are more important than saving his career by making a proper public statement, than let him be. He made his choice very clear so no one need to protest on his behalf about the consequences he is facing right now….
@niangniang Sacrificing one’s career for the greater good is quite heroic an act. Maybe not to the selfish haters who will stop at nothing to undermine his popularity. But most people have caught on to their malicious deeds. What ‘consequences’ is he facing now?
@msxie0714
What ‘consequences’ is he facing now?
Just like what this article is talking about, his popularity taking a dive, losing endorsements and boycott. Obviously he knew very well what he is doing, so he keeps silent even though a proper and simple statement will get him out from this mess.
Since he doesn’t makes any effort to take cares of his own problems, why fans need to get their knickers on knots on his behalf?? Isn’t his problem started because of fans who think they know it all too?? That’s my point
@niangniang
here’s one of the latest positive reports on XZ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtU5r30H6M
@niangniang lol it’s funny how his fans forget the role that makes him famous. I don’t get why people are so upset by a work of fiction, when it’s just based of (or pretty close to) his well known role? If say the fanfic portrait him as murderer, rapist, a paedo, then fair enough. But no, she just imagined it a bit further than the censorship allows the drama to be lol.
@littlefish
What really happened??? Beside that XZ portraited as a girl in the cartoon/fiction???
I don’t think XZ should be blame or boycott this was all made up from other fans as well right??
Why should XZ and his agencies apologize for what they didn’t do..
@realityvsdrama apologies in a sense that he is sad this is happening, rather than apologise for causing these whole debacle. Many times fans are doing stupid things that are against the artist’s moral POV (on the public face anyway), and many times, the artists would voice their thoughts, in a sense, disassociate themselves from the toxic fans, which is then reduce those fans’ stupidity, if not reduce the hate for the artist, and so the media has not much to blow it up for. If you just keep silent on this issue, it just keeps blowing up and out of proportion, and ppls will use this opportunity to create further damage. Saying something similar to what @dalebaines would be perfect.
@littlefish
sorry, I meant to reply to someone else with comment below and clicked your name instead .
@littlefish
no matter what he says, haters will find something to nitpick. quoting one filmmaker who agreed with XZ keeping silent, “you can’t reason with mad dogs.”
@msxie0714 while that is very true, however, it’s the commoners (those passerby, for example me, a potential fan since I haven’t watched the untamed yet) are ok (hopefully sound minded ppl) and waiting to listen to his side. But we got none. Just saying
@littlefish the fanfic depicts him as a streetwalker getting involved with a minor, which is nowhere near the role he played as Wu Weixian. Maybe you didn’t watch the drama and assume it was about pedophiles? Pedophilia can get you arrested in the USA!
@msxie0714 Uhm, did not know the fanfics portrait him as a pedo, however, how minor is minor (in Australia, the lawful age is 16, in asian, possibly younger). Many romance has some degree of stalker in it and no one seems to care? Or and age gap. Point is fanfics doesnt really do that much damage, and most know it’s a work of fiction >_> and My original point is the fanfics portrayed him as a transgender/gay who dress as woman (excuse me for my lack of correct term to use for LGBT), someone who isn’t playing the normal role society has given him, which isn’t far off from his drama, where he’s supposed to be gay.
Some people think fan fictions are ok. I think they are ok to certain degree only. In Xiao Zhan’s case it was outragous. It was sickening. I don’t think any actor/actress will be ok with that when he/she is being portrayed like that.
The person I feel for the most is Xiao Zhan. He worked so hard to be where he is and now this happen. He doesn’t deserve to loose it all overnight.
He’s also a very thoughtful person who don’t believe in accusing anyone and therefore he keep to himself. He must be in pain all this time having to deal with the passing of his grandfather and this situation.
I for one is looking forward for his come back and I believe him keeping silence is the best answer. I do not believe he should ever apologise for something he didn’t do or have any control over.
He’s a sweet and honest guy who deserve our love and faith in him. Let’s not bring the past and something that can’t be undone and look forward to the future and believe that #XiaoZhan will come back stronger than before.
From this article I can tell you didn’t do any research and it’s definitely old news. It was already cleared that some of his fans didn’t report on AO3 website or that other one. They did report on Weibo, where that fanfic was link to. On Weibo you can’t have porn and minors in porn, the author shouldn’t have tag XZ or posted on Weibo.
I don’t understand the hate for the author or fanfiction. Most fanfiction writers are anonymous and post their works with disclaimers and tags on sites for FANS. It’s a work of fiction. We shouldn’t be censoring creative works. The overreaction to something that can’t affect reality is what caused this mess in the first place. If people didn’t like the content, they could’ve just moved on and Xiao Zhan wouldn’t have to suffer from his crazy fans’ overprotectiveness. Everything would’ve been fine if people didn’t turn something so harmless into an actual problem. If you put yourself in the limelight then you know there WILL be fanfictions about you, especially idols. Have y’all glanced at BTS fanfiction? Man, possibly anything has been written about those boys. I’m sure Xiao Zhan didn’t mind a piece of harmless fanfiction. Nobody’s gonna take it seriously and tarnish his image with it, going around announcing that Xiao Zhan is actually a cross-dressing sex worker. But now it’s become an actual problem because obsessive overthinkers made it out to be. And people are still attacking the writer? It’s the crowd mentality. It’s easy to pinpoint one single person as the cause rather than a group of people (ironically this is how the protagonist of The Untamed met his demise). I guess Xiao Zhan is experiencing a very familiar conflict to the character he portrayed, huh. Poor Xiao Zhan. I hope he gets through this. As a non-Chinese fan, my only contribution is to continue to watch his works. Good luck.
I have been using AO3 since before XZ entered the entertainment industry(around 8 years).
I read this article and quite surprise how lacks of information of some people here, including the writer of the article herself.
First, AO3 is the platform for fanfiction, which is categorized in rate, genre, status, and pairing. While explicit scene and mature are allowed in this platform but they still follow the basic human right rule because this platform is created by Influenced Democracy country. The fanfiction that XZ fan on weibo report is romanticize pedophile, which is against the law. The writer was not even use a trigger warning/achieve warning tag, which is required by AO3 itself, to remind the reader for the underage content.
Second, Chinese government has released the statement about they want to ban AO3 because they are against every kind of explicit and mature sex scene on the website, including Male/Female. This statement came out a few months before this circumstance occured.
Third, AO3 clarified that this circumstance around XZ fans is not related to the ban and platform system at all.
Fourth, while celebrities are public figure but they’re protected by the law. For every civilized countries, retouching a picture into semi-pornography and pornography is illegal and celebrities have a right to sue the person who retouch it though.
PS. It’s found out on Weibo that several harassment comments were created by user who got paid by unknown user in order to discredit XZ.
I also found out that Chinese people can still access AO3 by changing VPN, this method is the same as how they access Twitter and IG
@baoc well that does make the picture a bit clearer! Possibly also explain why he’s still top trending n there is no hate toward him, and so all these are publicity lol. Moving on lol
@baoc Thank you for the clarification! I think someone mentioned that XZ’s haters are taking advantage of this incident to create more trouble and blow things out of proportion. I think we’ll know if any damage was actually done to his career once Oath of Love or his other projects are released. If his shows still do very well and he keeps his place at the top of the ranks, then that’ll really be the end of this mess.
Okay so first things first I agree with most of the things you’ve said it is really a sad thing that a MULTITALENTED actor like Xiao zhan he to go through all of this stuff because his so called die hard fans couldn’t understand the concept of “don’t agree with the content then block/mute/filter it and move on” It really upsets me to see how this exceptionally SKILLED actor had to face the toxic side of fandom.
Xian Zhan’s latest updates : 3/26, 3/27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwDn7xD4uvc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98QrxjxlFRA
I cannot believe this!! What kind of crazy fans are they!
I feel so bad for Xiao Zhan, it’s not his fault some of his fans are crazy! He is one of the most talented actors I’ve ever seen especially from someone who doesn’t have an acting background! Hes humble and isn’t proud and arrogant like other actors who become popular. I was waiting for his new dramas to come out and hear that his works are being halted makes me upset!!! NO! I WANT TO WATCH HIS NEW DRAMAS!
His career cannot be destroyed because of a crazy few! Especially when he has nothing to do with it.
Maybe if more of his real fans complain online the companies might change their decision seeing how much support XZ still has! Keep fighting XZ, I support you!
Also XZ is 100% man! Period.