Taiwanese singer Wang Lee-hom Friday rebuffed rumors that he had gay sex for pay with 40-year-old Yulon Group CEO Kenneth K.T. Yen.
"Bulls---! I don't know him (Yen) and never met him. The story is not worth wasting my breath on. Some media have no professional standards. No truth at all. I'm very disappointed," said Wang during a press conference for his new album in Beijing.
The story goes back to popular Taiwanese Much TV host Emi Lee. Last week, she claimed on her TV program that some Taiwan tabloid journalists had taken intimate photos of Yen and Wang when the couple was traveling in Japan. Lee said Yen had paid 60 million new Taiwan dollars (US$1.81 million) not to print the pictures. After that, Lee's claims were published in Taiwan's newspaper China Times in a full page questioning of 29-year-old Wang's sexual orientation.
The first outraged person was not Wang or Yen, but Lee. She insisted that the China Times garbled her remarks. "I had said in my program that Yen and Wang's affair was totally gossip," said Lee. She insisted that she never mentioned the Japan trip. "Tabloid reporters should not use another person to say what they really want to say."
On Thursday, Wang held a press conference in Taiwan to clarify the rumors, including his sexual orientation. He confirmed that he would take legal action against Lee and her program. "I will sue all of them. Why didn't they ask me before doing the program?" said Wang. As to Yen, one of his colleagues said: "Mr. Yen doesn't know Wang at all. He has nothing to say about the funny news."
After the press conference, Lee apologized to both Yen and Wang, saying that the TV station will soon take legal action against the irresponsible reporting of China Times. Wang's label Sony BMG also had its lawyer release a statement Saturday saying it will sue Era Co., owner of Much TV, the China Times, and any party involved in the slander, demanding 10 million new Taiwan dollars each from Era Co. and the newspaper. In the world of show biz sex tidbits, R&B singer Wang is rarely mentioned in any liaison.
(Shenzhen Daily December 19, 2005)
