Mainland director-producer Yu Zheng has recently clarified his post about actress Zhao Qing, following the backlash over his criticism about her weight.
Late last week, netizens alongside actress Xu Jiao slammed the producer, after he posted photos of the actress, who is starring in his drama, “Perfect Match” and stated that Zhao still looked a bit fat despite slimming down to 46kg. He added that Zhao might need to drop to 42.5kg and that he would accompany her to lose weight.
The post created a big backlash from netizens, with actress Xu Jiao sharing a photo of actor Min Jin with sunken lips, asking Yu, “Do you think it looks good when someone is that thin?” She also commented that Zhao is a tall girl at around 170cm, and that losing more weight would not complement her height and would be dangerous to her health.
In response to the backlash, the producer wrote a long post on Weibo, basically saying that he was just encouraging Zhao to lose weight with him as healthy weight loss is important. He claimed that the actress snacks a lot and that proper weight loss will give her more opportunities in the business.
“Opportunities in the entertainment industry are fleeting, and proper weight loss can give her more opportunities. Of course, there are also those who complain about her acting skills… Actors need to adjust their mentality at any time and strengthen their hearts,” he added.
He also stressed that he and Xu Jia, who criticised his opinion, are actually good friends and that the actress has always been direct with him.
“As soon as yesterday’s incident came out, I immediately sent her a WeChat message, and everyone cleared up the misunderstanding,” he said.
However, not all netizens were happy with his response, with one saying, “You are really good at finding reasons for every inexplicable behaviour you have.”
Another stated, “42.5kg is not good for her height. How can it be healthy?”
