Edison Chen Sex Scandal – The Report So Far + Cock Shot + Public Apology + More Meat + Official Press Conference! + Chen Testifies & Actress Speaks
(UPDATE: 3/1/09) – A few new developments over the last week: First. Edison appeared in a Vancouver court to give testimony against Sze Ho-Chun, the computer technician who allegedly leaked the nude celebrity pics while repairing Chen’s laptop. The testimony took place in Chen’s native Vancouver because of his refusal to return to Hong Kong since the scandal first broke. A Canadian judge and Hong Kong’s chief magistrate co-commissioned the hearing as Hong Kong police questioned Chen.
Chen testified that of the hundreds of nude pics of the four female celebrities exposed in the scandal, at least 40 were taken during one of his trysts by a female celebrity who later gave him a burned DVD of the images as a “present” for his “personal appreciation.” He denied accusations that he had transferred the photos to his phone to show others and added that he had deleted all the nude celebrity pics from his laptop, not realizing that someone with technical know-how can still extract deleted files from a computer. Chen was initially reluctant to reveal the indentities of the four females in questions because ”I’m quite a private person. I enjoy my privacy, I need my privacy. This was never meant for anyone else to see. I’m determined to protect their innocence. They have suffered enough.”
Meanwhile, as Chen’s first movie after the scandal is set to premier in Hong Kong, actress Celia Cheung publicly discussed her role in the sex photo scandal for the first time on TV Friday night. She blamed Chen for the scandal saying she was fed up with the actor for not returning her attempts to contact him or even apologizing once the photos leaked online. In discussing their relationship, she implied that Chen was a dishonest, unreliable hypocrite who brought shame to the women involved; though they did not expect Chen’s protection a year ago, they now expect him to give them their due respect and dignity. She cried while discussing her family’s support during the scandal. Chen reacted the following day by issuing a statement saying that the scandal was his fault and he accepted all blame.
Assessing who stands to lose the most in the scandal, The Electric New Paper said that Cheung will likely emerge “relatively unscathed” although her photos were the among the most explicit, because she had already put acting on the back-burner when they surfaced. Her husband dismissed talk that the scandal put their marriage on the rocks and stood up for her saying, “‘those (referring to the sex photos) are history, stuff that happened long ago’.” She’s also known as a bit of a bad girl who drank and smoked as a teen (Oooo… how wicked!) and has recently been pictured looking very happy with her son Lucas.
As for Edison, he was a huge Hong Kong pop star and had just appeared in The Grudge 2 and a tiny role in The Dark Knight straddling Hong Kong and Hollywood before the scandal broke. He’s all but retired from film at age 28. having been axed from the upcoming action movie, Jump, and having the credit card company Manhattan Titanium pull all their ads featuring him. There are also rumours that the Hong Kong triads had put a HK$500,000 ($10,000) bounty for one of Edison’s hands (yow!). He gets about 60-40 odds for re-emerging from the scandal, having ruined his own and several other careers and personal lives. Sadly, in conservative Hong Kong, celebrity sex tapes aren’t quite the career booster that they are in the U.S.
However, in what seems his first commercial engagement since the scandal, Edison made several appearances in Singapore this last Friday for events associated with Carl’s Jr., Adidas, and Bang & Olufsen. During his public appearance at theGrand Hyatt Hotel for the release of Carl’s Jr.’s the 100 percent Angus Beef Thickburger (tee-hee), he had 10 bodyguards and over 200 screaming fans. He ignored questions hurled from the audience about Cheung’s recent interview. However, his appearances sparked some web ire with one unnamed executive calling it a “PR fiasco.” Pics of the event are here.
Download the Complete Set of Pictures Here.