C-actress Song Zu Er Reportedly Under Investigation for Tax Evasion and Fraud Putting Her Upcoming Dramas The Demon Hunter’s Romance and Prisoner of Beauty at Risk of Airing Ban
So there is an unexpected late summer bombshell on what has been a relatively scandal free few months in C-ent with more dramas than usual all airing to provide a glut of entertainment for consumption. Today C-ent reported that actress Song Zu Er has been reported to the tax authorities for tax evasion and tax fraud, reportedly by an employee of her agency. The allegations are she used multiple companies to sign dual contracts and also got payment diverted to her personal accounts to avoid paying taxes. She was listed as a director of four companies and three of them as of this morning have had it’s registration cancelled. That’s pretty damning. Her official Baidu bar claimed this was all rumors first but then her previous agency released a statement that her contract had expired as of November 2022 and she was representing herself now so there is no connection between that agency and Song Zu Er since then. Way to distance oneself.
Later the tax authorities released a statement that it will open a tax investigation on Song Zu Er and information will be shared on the official website, but also said it did not receive a tip off report from an agency employee. Song Zu Er has two big C-dramas on deck the first was supposed to premiere in September with The Demon Hunter’s Romance opposite Allen Ren and the second is Prisoner of Beauty with Liu Yu Ning which is ready just hasn’t gotten any firm airing date yet. She also has two other pre-filmed dramas less high profile also waiting to air, but out of the four dramas 3 are S or S+ level so would be a massive financial loss to the producers if it can’t air. If the tax allegations are true then buh bye to her career as with the careers of other tax evaders Fang Bing Bing, Deng Lun, and Zheng Shuang (though hers was also cancelled for the surrogate baby scandal).
Can these tax evaders learn from their predecessors? They earn so much but so unwilling to pay the dues.
Damn, i was looking forward to Prisoner of beauty.
OMGAH. Not a talent like her!!! Here is one time I super hope it’s not true!!!
official Weibo accounts of Beijing Satellite TV, Hunan Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, Jiangsu Satellite TV, and Anhui Satellite TV have all deleted #SongZuer related posts.
Her related information is already getting deleted. Seems like the nail is already pinned on top of the coffin
They know what the consequences are, yet they still do it…Sorry, she only has herself to blame for this.
Her agency still hasn’t released an official statement, which is pretty much an admission of guilt. Not surprising. Various scandals of hers gave me the impression that she’s one of those tone-deaf, entitled, rich kids. I’m more curious about how Daylight will handle this. It’s the first time they’ve had one of their leading actors get cancelled.
Looks like all the top 95 flowers are collapsing one by one. First, Wang Churan and now, Song Zuer. It’s only a matter of time before the other rising starlets follow in their footsteps. I already have a hunch about a few of them.
Yeah, too many nepo babies nowadays. Nepo babies get things handed to them way too easily so they don’t treasure what they have nor bother to put in much effort into their careers. If you look at the previous era’s top stars, most of them came from poor backgrounds.
She isn’t a nepobaby and was a child actress who started acting at age 7 due to her visuals and crying skills, she ranked 3rd in BFA auditions and hasn’t altered her face so it’s really a pity https://m.bilibili.com/video/BV1yR4y1k71q her mom is twice-divorced and pushed her into acting to become a breadwinner. Her mom’s ex-husband is actress Shu Chang’s uncle and they are apparently on bad terms with Shu Chang apparently posting and deleting a happy post yesterday because Song’s mom apparently reported Shu Chang to the tax authorities before. Who knows.
In any case it’s a huge pity because she was on her way to becoming the next Yangzi aka child actress turned adult star with Daylight Entertainment pushing her into 正剧 and her taking on better costume roles. Her natural face fits costume historicals better than other child stars like Zhao Jinmai, Li Landi, Guan Xiaotong and she pulls off modern 正剧 teen to adult roles as well. I hope she finds her way back to acting in Taiwan or elsewhere because she’s only 25. Yeesh.
@Anon I’m referring to the 95er flowers in general.
Song Zuer isn’t a nepobaby, but her child fame seems to have gotten to her head. She reminds me of Kim Sae Ron. Just last month, she was heavily criticized by netizens for her post joking about the typhoon, which had caused many deaths and severe damages. It was an extremely tone-deaf and insensitive comment that made her come across as a privileged, wealthy celebrity, who couldn’t be bothered by the issues of those less fortunate than her. Very reminiscent of the rich mom in Parasite after the flood or Vanessa Hudgens’ meltdown during Covid. Meanwhile, other lesser known actors and actresses had taken the initiative to to help those affected by the typhoon by donating money and supplies. So I’m not surprised she got caught for something like tax evasion. There are other things from her past too, so netizens expected her to go down sooner or later. It’s always the prettiest and most innocent, sweet-looking ones who end up being the total opposite from their public personas.
What happened with Wang Churan?
But isn’t all that Wang Churan needs is a a good role after the bad one she had? She didn’t commit any crime, I think, just played an unpopular character? Do actor careers really collapse permanently over a thing like that?
I didn’t know Song Zuer had been scandal-encumbered before this, but I would have figured if someone like Zhao Lusi, with all the unceasing melons about her, can thrive, why shouldn’t someone like Song Zuer, who’s a much better actress? Unfortunately, if she was reported for tax evasion, that’s on a whole different level. So, so sad about “Prisoner of Beauty”; there aren’t many C-dramas I look forward to, but this one was at the very top of that very small list.
wcr has many melon around her being rude/ attitude issue.
But Wang Chu Ran isnt cancelled. She maybe infamous after her disastrous drama and attitude problems too but those dont count as crime. Tax evasion is a huge thing in China. So Song Zu Er’s problem is on a Richter scale, not comparable to Wang Chu Ran’s. Hers is more comparable to Deng Lun.
By “collapsed”, I mean that Wang Churan’s good girl image and appeal is gone now. Sure, she hasn’t been blacklisted from the industry, but she’s become a laughingstock in China like how Irene and Seo Yeji are in Korea.
The reason I mentioned her is because Wang Churan and Song Zuer were two of the most anticipated actresses from their age group. They were revered for their beauty and acting potential, yet both compromised their statuses in different ways. All this to say that looks are deceiving, and I’m sure we’ll be witnessing the downfall of more from that group.
What a pity, I was so looking forward to Prisoner of Beauty. It’s high-time for C-ent to start learning from all these losses. Only use actors and actresses with good attitude and clean past, if an actor/actress is already known to have attitude issues previously, stop using them.
China is very idealistically dumb to let all those expensive BL and banned actor dramas rot and never air, they can punish the wrongdoer but why let the director, scriptwriter, investor, and other actors suffer? I have Tencent shares and am considering selling them due to the gaming restrictions and random bans on dramas from everything from tax issues to politics e.g. IQiyi’s Kunning Palace got blocked due to the 3ML’s white paper protest, Journey to You got blocked because the costumes are too Japanese.
China’s economy is in the shitter and there are so many netizens happy that Tencent, Iqiyi, Youku and other production firms lose money or that 500m yuan dramas get shelved forever? USA don’t need to ruin China’s economy, they will do it to themselves because they are Communists and hate capitalism lol.
Omgash! I was really looking forward to Prisoner of Beauty. Sighs…
Seems like regardless of the real outcome, many parties are already wiping out traces of her. Her newly appointed Pantene ambassador already deleted their posts and ads, tv stations remove all programs with her and her former agency was quicky to draw a line too. So its looking really bad rightnow. Too bad, shes a good actress with good body of works. But if she really did tax evasion, its just plain dumb. Throwing away everything for greed. There goes a youth with a potentially bright future.