Tired of being stalked
CHINESE screen idol Wang Yibo (pic) has lashed out at stalker fans, deploring how someone has even put a location tracker on his car.
The 22-year-old, who became one of China’s most popular actors after starring in fantasy drama The Untamed (2019), pleaded for understanding in an emotional post on social media recently.
“My work is so tiring, can’t I just sleep a little bit in the car? My staff is standing right in front of your car and yet you still dare to drive forwards,” he wrote on microblogging site Weibo.
“For a long time now, I will have strangers knocking on my hotel room door, someone even placed a location tracker in my car. No matter where I go, there is always someone following me.”
Wang, a member of South Korean-Chinese boy band Uniq, acted opposite fellow leading man Xiao Zhan in The Untamed, which catapulted the duo to new levels of fame.
On May 2, a week before Wang’s social media post, his management agency Yue Hua Entertainment put up a warning to his sasaeng fans.
Sasaeng fans is a term that originated from South Korea – literally “private life fans” – to refer to obsessive fans who stalk and invade the personal lives of celebrities.
Yue Hua Entertainment wrote that it has taken legal action since discovering a location tracker placed in a vehicle that Wang uses.
It wrote: “Please do not follow our cars, chase after our cars or follow us onto airplanes. Do not gather and mob (our artistes) in public places like airports, hotels and shooting locations. Do not sell information about schedules, locations and photos of film shoots that are not meant to be released to the public.”
Wang’s predicament has garnered messages of encouragement from fans.
Last year, it was reported that Wang was on the line when fans – who reportedly paid money to hackers who got hold of his number – called and he asked them not to call him again.
He later posted an appeal on Weibo, saying he would change his number and urging fans not to buy his number any more. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network