Netizens Dig Out More Damning Pics Of Zhang Zhehan, Including One Of Him Performing “Obscene” Gesture On Statue
Another photo shows the disgraced Word of Honor star doing what appears to be the Nazi salute.
Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan, 30, had been in been in showbiz for over a decade when he finally hit the big time with wuxia drama Word of Honor earlier this year. But all it took to make his career fall apart was a few old shots of him on holiday.
For those who missed it, pictures of Zhehan posing in front of Tokyo’s notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which he originally posted in 2018, resurfaced and went viral for all the wrong reasons.
He was also found to have attended a wedding at Nogi Shrine, another infamous war memorial, and taken a photo with former Indonesian first lady Dewi Sukarno the following year.
Despite Zhehan’s apology and clarification that he isn’t “pro-Japanese”, he was quickly denounced by the public and the media, and he lost numerous projects and endorsement deals.
Zhang Zhehan in Word of Honor
One of the photos that led to his downfall
Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for the disgraced star, netizens began digging up all of his other past misdeeds.
Internet sleuths discovered a pic of Zhehan doing what appears to be the Nazi salute in front of the Yuhuatai Martyrs Memorial Hall in Nanjing, as well as another of a car bearing Japan’s controversial Rising Sun flag.
The “Nazi salute” that uninformed netizens have accused him of doing has since been identified as a pose his co-star does in his 2019 film Brother. It appears Zhehan may just have been mimicking it in a Weibo post where he quotes a key line from the movie… although we can see why it would be misunderstood as the infamous gesture by those who didn’t watch the movie.
The misunderstood pose
The pose from the movie Brother
The Rising Sun flag is considered offensive in countries including China and South Korea
That’s not all they found.
In two undated but obviously old photos, Zhehan and a friend can be seen pinching the nipples of a mermaid sculpture, a cheeky gesture that was deemed “obscene”, and sitting on the tomb of Southern Qi Dynasty courtesan Su Xiaoxiao, which led many to criticise him for being disrespectful.
In addition, he was accused of behaving inappropriately while filming variety show Everybody Stand By.
After acting in a passionate scene with Chinese actress Wang Zhi, he allegedly made her uncomfortable by blurting out remarks like “I want to kiss” and “That kind of beastly desire has come up”.
He made a splash in a bad way
Guess you could say he has a knack for getting into trouble thanks to memorials
Even those who have worked with Zhehan have spoken up, claiming that the actor and his team are difficult, don’t produce good results, and act like big shots.
Needless to say, Zhehan’s reputation has pretty much plummeted to the point of no return, with dozens of brands ending their contracts with him overnight and shows he already completed filming facing the possibility that they will never be aired.
His past certainly came back to bite him hard
Photos: Word of Honor/Weibo, 胜利主义章北海/Weibo, Zhang Zhehan/Weibo and Instagram, IMDb
