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HK Public urged to burn magazine with half-naked star on cover
2002-11-01
HONG KONG - Furious at what they call the latest excesses by the local tabloid press, top Hong Kong entertainers want the public to burn copies of a sensationalistic magazine with a photo of a visibly distressed half-naked woman on its cover.``Is this what Hong Kong has come to? Just for the sake of a few extra cents?'' asked the famed local movie director Ng Si-yuen, his voice rising to almost a yell during a news conference on Friday. Others who turned out to denounce the Oct. 30 issue of Eastweek included action film legend Jackie Chan and former Bond girl, Malaysian-born Michelle Yeoh, who also starred in ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'' Eastweek's cover appears to show a well-known local star, but the face and her breasts are obscured and she is not identified by the magazine. Eastweek said only that the woman was a semi-retired veteran entertainer who has been highly successful, both in her career and love life. The magazine said the topless photo was taken years ago and against the woman's will. ``This is an insult to the dignity of all women,'' said Anita Mui, one of Hong Kong's hottest singers in the 80s and chairwoman of Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild, which represents the entertainers. The magazine apologized for the photo late Friday and said it decided to publish it only after an extended internal debate ``based on the fundamental spirit of the media to expose truth and to exercise its monitoring function.'' ``We did not mean to insult or hurt the victim,'' Eastweek said in a statement. The government has received 290 complaints about the photo and a tribunal that classifies lewd publications would evaluate it to determine whether it ran afoul of Hong Kong's obscenity laws, said Terence Yu, a spokesman for the Commerce, Industry and Technology Department. Hong Kong's celebrities are in a constant tug-of-war with the territory's aggressive press corps. The entertainment guild has said it wants new laws to regulate the press but it did not repeat those demands Friday. News organizations say such laws would infringe press freedoms guaranteed in Hong Kong's constitution. Although the celebrities encouraged the public to burn the magazine, they did not do so themselves at the news conference. Instead, they appeared before a huge white banner with red Chinese characters that translated into ``absolutely unbearable.'' AP
Hong Kong Pop Star Anita Mui Dies at 40 (2003-12-29)HK stars denounce magazine for topless photo (2002-11-01)HK Public urged to burn magazine with half-naked star on cover (2002-11-01)"Hong Kong Heat" stars to sweep U.S. (2001-06-21)Anita Mui Declines Basic Instinct 2 Invitation (2000-10-29)
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