Hong Kong musician Hins Cheung King-hin has denied suggestions that he was barred from performing in a popular mainland singing contest following calls to boycott the artist from pro-Beijing activists.
In previous seasons, the first-episode lineup for reality TV music competition I Am a Singer has always included at least one contestant from Hong Kong. China’s state media Xinhua reported that Cheung was originally included in the lineup, but that he dropped out because of “personal reasons.”
“I am shocked [by reports that he was dropped from the programme],” Cheung said. “There are only jobs regarding my concert in Macau and award presentations on my January schedule. There are no other jobs scheduled for me, so this report is not true.”
Emperor Entertainment CEO Mani Fok told Apple Daily: “No one from the company had confirmed Hin’s participation in I Am a Singer, so there is no ‘drop-out’.”
Last Friday, Caring Hong Kong Power convener and pro-Beijing activist Chan Ching-sum called for a boycott of Cheung on Chinese social media, citing his opposition to National Education and support for the pro-democracy Occupy movement.
“I cannot stop what you do, but I have the right to boycott you!” she wrote.
One netizen commented: “Support! At a show two days ago, he even said he never speaks Putonghua! [He] did not speak in Putonghua at his concert! Only speaking in Cantonese! Rubbish!”
Responding to Chan’s Weibo posts, Cheung said: “Anyway, my jobs in the mainland are not affected, and [I] will continue going back to the mainland to work.”
Last year, Cheung appeared in a video alongside Anthony Wong Chau-sang and other local artists performing a pro-democracy anthem adopted from the Les Miserables song “Do You Hear the People Sing?”
Cheung also appeared at the Metro Radio Hits Music Awards Presentation bearing a bloodied make-up look that he named “Caring Mother.”
In December 2014, former Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung said the police protected student protesters like “caring mothers.”
Cheung was not the only singer attacked by Chan on Weibo.
A photo of Ellen Joyce Loo wearing the Umbrella Movement’s yellow ribbon was shared by Chan in November. Chan wrote: “Why was a Hong Kong female singer who supported the Occupy last year invited to the Strawberry Music Festival 2015?”
Loo’s performance at the Festival in Guangdong was cancelled shortly thereafter.
