A K-pop star has been detained by authorities in Beijing after a 19-year-old woman accused him of rape, according to reports.
Kris Wu, 30, was being held Saturday by police after allegations he “repeatedly lured young women to have sexual relations,” cops said in a statement, which offered few details.
The woman, Du Meizhu, was 18 at the time of the alleged attack, she told Chinese news forum NetEase, claiming Wu had lured her to his home for an audition and that she woke up in his bed after he got her drunk.
The accuser said roughly half a dozen other women, including some under the age of 18, reached out to her with similar stories.
Wu’s arrest was widely celebrated on Chinese social media — including by the Communist Party’s publication, People’s Daily, the Wall Street Journal said.
Wu, who was a member of the Korean boy band EXO before going solo, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, insisting he didn’t force the young woman to drink.
“There was no ‘groupie sex!’ There was no ‘underage’!” he wrote on his social media last month, claiming “I would put myself in jail” if the charges were true.
Wu is a Canadian citizen. But his arrest is seen as a breakthrough in China, where the #MeToo movement has failed to gain traction in the country’s legal system, according to the Journal.
Women’s rights activist Lu Pin told the Journal that Wu’s arrest surprised her given the Chinese government’s poor record on investigating sexual assault allegations by women.
“If police don’t investigate, there’s very little victims can do,” Lu said, calling Wu’s bust “a huge encouragement to women.”