In order to stand out in the saturated online space, content creators sometimes have to resort to special gimmicks and stunts.
For veteran Singapore Actor Terence Cao (曹国辉), his recent livestreams have attracted both attention and criticism.
The 55-year-old had reportedly hugged fellow actor and live streamer Dawn Yeoh (姚懿珊) and the owner of a Malaysian beauty company that he was helping to promote.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
Cao, however, shared that they were merely putting on an act and added that he had sought the ladies’ consent before hugging them.
The first of these hugging incidents occurred on 13 Sep during a live stream on the 西北Shiok Facebook page advertising beauty products.
At the start of the livestream, Cao was seen with his arms around Yeoh’s waist while holding his head close to hers.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
About a week later on 19 Sep, the pair appeared in a similar pose, this time on a live stream selling jewellery products.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
The third, and arguably most controversial ‘hugging incident’ came on 30 Sep.
In the livestream, Cao was seen hugging a lady named Joyce. She reportedly owns a beauty company in Malaysia and had engaged Cao to help promote the business.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
Many of the viewers criticised Cao for resorting to the same tactics to gain traction and accused him of taking advantage of women.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
Unsurprisingly, Cao’s intimate actions led to questions about whether Cao and Yeoh were dating.
During a press conference on 29 Sep, however, Yeoh dispelled such rumours, saying that she was single and treated Cao like an older brother.
“We are live partners, but not life partners,” said the 37-year-old.
As for the initial gimmick on 13 Sep, Yeoh shared that they were partly inspired by Rebecca Lim’s pregnancy announcement from the day before.
Meanwhile, Cao claimed that the intimate actions were merely an act and that viewers shouldn’t take them so seriously.
Source: 西北Shiok on Facebook
In a subsequent live stream on Wednesday (4 Oct), Cao also clarified that he had sought the ladies’ consent before hugging them.
Do you think Cao went too far with the gimmick? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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Featured image adapted from 西北Shiok on Facebook, Facebook, and Facebook.
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