Fan Bingbing — the acclaimed Chinese actress who broke out in America as the teleporting mutant Blink in the blockbuster “X-Men” film franchise — mysteriously vanished without a trace, with her own fans fearing that she’d been snatched and secretly imprisoned by the nation’s Communist regime! Now the actress has finally come forward after vanishing from the world on July 1, issuing a groveling apology to the Chinese Communist Party for trying to dodge taxes by signing a fake film contract to hide her real salary for the WWII drama “Air Strike,” where she co-stars with Bruce Willis. “I’ve been suffering unprecedented pain recently,” she wrote on social media, adding: “I’m so ashamed of what I’ve done. Here, I sincerely apologize to everyone.” News reports say that Fan’s been hit with approximately $70 million worth of penalties, but that’s getting off easy in an oppressive regime that’s already eliminated the actress from the “Air Strike” advertising…
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Industry insiders took notice when Fan's images were suddenly removed from the marketing for "Air Strike." China's most popular actress had a featured role in the movie — and there were fears that leaving Fan out of the advertising would be the first step to wiping her out of Chinese culture. “You’ve got to be very, very wary that you don’t at any stage fall afoul of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Fergus Ryan, a cyber analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Previously, the only announcement about Fan's fate had come from the government-run Securities Daily, which reported that she was "under control and was about to receive legal judgment" after her tax dodge was exposed by a journalist in May. Some analysts, however, believe that Fan was actually being extorted on trumped-up charges after setting records for her pay as a movie star.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Now the international film community is waiting to see if the government will allow Fan to mount a proper comeback. For now, however, Fan's reappearance comes as a relief to Fan’s loyal audience in the People's Republic of China — with one having written on social media, "I have a hunch that you will be back, right? We’ll wait for you."
Industry insiders took notice when Fan's images were suddenly removed from the marketing for "Air Strike." China's most popular actress had a featured role in the movie — and there were fears that leaving Fan out of the advertising would be the first step to wiping her out of Chinese culture. “You’ve got to be very, very wary that you don’t at any stage fall afoul of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Fergus Ryan, a cyber analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Previously, the only announcement about Fan's fate had come from the government-run Securities Daily, which reported that she was "under control and was about to receive legal judgment" after her tax dodge was exposed by a journalist in May. Some analysts, however, believe that Fan was actually being extorted on trumped-up charges after setting records for her pay as a movie star.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Now the international film community is waiting to see if the government will allow Fan to mount a proper comeback. For now, however, Fan's reappearance comes as a relief to Fan’s loyal audience in the People's Republic of China — with one having written on social media, "I have a hunch that you will be back, right? We’ll wait for you."
Photo credit: Getty Images
