Chinese star Cai Xukun hit by abortion allegations

Cai Xukun

Chinese pop singer Cai Xukun, with over 38 million followers on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, has been hit by abortion allegations on Monday: an entertainment blogger alleged Cai's mother hired a private investigator to monitor a woman and installed a pinhole camera at her door in 2021 after the woman claimed to have become pregnant following a one-night stand with Cai and to have later had an abortion at his request.

As of press time, the singer and his official studio have not responded to the allegation.

At noon on Monday, a user on Weibo posted details of the alleged encounter between Cai and the woman, known only as "C." According to the post, the meeting took place on May 20, 2021, at a KTV in Beijing's Chaoyang district. Cai and the woman engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse after the gathering. After a month, the woman found out she was pregnant, but Cai allegedly asked her to have an abortion. She underwent the procedure alone on July 5 at a hospital.

According to the post, Cai's mother, suspecting a potential extortion plot, allegedly hired a private investigator to monitor the woman and secretly installed a pinhole camera outside her residence in an attempt to gather evidence refuting her claims of pregnancy. The post also included several hospital records about the woman's abortion.

The Weibo user also exposed more details regarding this scandal in subsequent live broadcasts, which included chat transcripts between Cai's mother and the private investigator and a recording demonstrating Cai's mother's involvement in arranging for a staff member to negotiate with the woman regarding the matters of abortion and compensation. Cai and his mother were later summoned by the police and finally the two parties reached a compromise and signed a letter of understanding.

Relevant hashtags related to Cai's scandal quickly rose to the top of Weibo's trending list, garnering billions of views. Some of Cai's supporters have called for solid evidence and dismissed the allegations as baseless rumors. However, numerous users have urged Cai to respond to these allegations as soon as possible.

Born in 1998, Cai rose to fame in 2018 through his participation in the idol survival show Idol Producer and subsequently debuted as the central figure of the Chinese boy group Nine Percent. After the disbandment of this boy band, he released multiple songs and albums, and remained active in reality shows, including "Keep Running." He concluded his performance at the Bangkok leg of his 2023 world tour on Sunday.