On Wednesday (15 Feb), news broke about the alleged passing of veteran Taiwanese singer Liu Wen-Cheng (刘文正) due to a heart attack.
However, things have apparently taken a dramatic 180-degree turn just a day later.
Not only did Liu’s former manager tell the media that the 70-year-old was in fact alive and well — he claimed that the singer had asked him to leak fake news about his passing.
Source: Weibo
The manager also shared that Liu was “pestered” to return to the entertainment industry with a substantial monetary incentive.
However, the star was not keen on doing so and specially asked his manager to fake his death.
According to Taiwanese news site ETtoday on Thursday (16 Feb), Liu’s ex-manager Tsia Yu-Shun said the singer is still alive.
Source: Weibo
This is a stark contrast to what he told media outlets a day ago, when Tsia claimed that Liu had passed away last November after suffering a heart attack.
What was perhaps more peculiar was the fact that Liu had allegedly instructed Tsia to circulate news of his fictional death.
Giving a rundown of events, Tsia told ETtoday that someone from Mainland China had “pestered” Liu to return to the entertainment industry, offering him a S$38.9 million (200 million yuan) incentive.
However, Liu was not keen on returning to the stage. Hence, he purportedly asked Tsia to circulate fake news of his passing.
There was a sliver of truth to Tsia’s statement, though: Liu had indeed suffered a heart attack but has since recovered.
Liu’s second aunt also confirmed with star.udn.com that the star is still alive and had verified this through a phone call on Wednesday (15 Feb).
Yesterday (15 Feb), reports started circulating that Liu had passed away in Las Vegas, USA last November after suffering a heart attack.
Tsia had apparently told media outlets about the tragic news, further claiming that he only learned about it a month after Liu’s death.
Liu, a popular Mandopop artist in the 70s and 80s, was famous for his distinctive vocals and dashing good looks.
Source: Twitter
Fondly known as the “Ancestor of Idols”, the Taiwanese-born singer relocated to the US in 1991 and faded from the limelight.
Since retiring, Liu has been a rather elusive figure, with news about him being few and far between.
So it’s no surprise that netizens went into a frenzy after a “recent photo” of him emerged in 2020.
However, that photo also turned out to be fake and was in fact an old picture of Liu put through an ageing filter.
Though it has been three decades since Liu went into retirement, we’re sure many fans would be eager to see him again.
Unfortunately, given the lengths that Liu is apparently willing to go to in order to stay out of the spotlight, it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll be making a showbiz return.
Nonetheless, we hope Liu’s silver years are peaceful and fulfilling and that the singer would be heartened by the fact that he’s still loved by so many of his fans worldwide.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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