Coco Lee (right) and Jenny Tseng performed together at a concert in 2006. Photo: Screengrab from InvincibleJT/YouTube
Veteran Cantopop singer Jenny Tseng is not done with dragging Sing! China just yet, as she continues to seek justice for her late friend, Hong Kong-American singer Coco Lee.
Tseng, who does not post on social media regularly, has been criticising the Chinese singing reality show on Facebook almost daily ever since a controversial nine-minute audio clip of Lee – who was a celebrity coach on its 2022 season – complaining about being mistreated on the series went viral on Chinese social media last Thursday (Aug 17).
According to Lee, a contestant with 77 marks was given a second chance, while her mentee with 88.3 marks was not. She had voiced her general unhappiness over the show’s system, which she felt was unfair.
Tseng, 70, delivered a eulogy during the July 31 memorial service for Lee, who died at age 48 on July 5, and was one of the eight pallbearers at Lee’s funeral on Aug 1.
The Macau-born, Hong Kong-based diva kicked off her online tirade on Facebook last Saturday. And even the show’s famous music mentors – whom she believes were complicit in the alleged shenanigans and have kept silent on the saga so far – were not spared.
“Everyone who participates in Sing! China lacks a conscience and will do anything for fame and gain,” she wrote in Chinese. “I look down on them for insulting the profession.”
Tseng posted further remarks in the comment section, saying these people are an embarrassment and have wasted the artistic talent which makes them rich.
“It’s ridiculous if these mentors think they are more superior than others,” she wrote. “Some of them are providing guidance even though they can’t sing well themselves and can’t pronounce the lyrics properly.“
She added that it is shameless to trick someone like Lee into joining the game if the rules are not explained fully prior.
Tseng also lamented that it was ultimately not worth Lee’s sacrifice, who fell on stage during the finale due to her injured leg, as Tseng said she previously advised Lee not to accept the “bad shows”.
Tseng returned to Facebook on Monday morning after Zhejiang Media Group, which is behind the TV channel broadcasting Sing! China, released a statement late on Sunday.
It acknowledged that the show may have fallen short of the expectations of viewers and said it would investigate the issues raised.
“It’s too late to apologise,” she wrote, invoking the Chinese idiom, “One cries only when death is staring one in the face”.
On Tuesday, she commented further: “You may or may not believe it. The conscience can be ‘cold’, and the bad people can be ‘bad’. When did the world become so cold-blooded and unable to tell right from wrong?”
She then addressed questions by netizens on why she has been posting on social media almost daily, saying: “If I don’t step up, people will forget about it and the chance to seek justice may be lost.”
Tseng then took aim at Sing! China’s female deputy director who is believed to be behind Lee’s misery, saying: “The investors can touch you if we can’t touch you. Let us touch the investors then.”
She then posted again on Wednesday morning, saying that she cries whenever she listens to the audio clip, and even if it was not Lee but Sing! China’s previous celebrity coaches such as Hong Kong singer Nicholas Tse, Chinese singer Na Ying and Taiwanese singer A-mei who were treated unfairly, she would also speak up for them. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
