Beijing police detained Chinese-Canadian pop singer Wu Yifan on suspicion of rape.

On Saturday, before Wu was detained, a 19-year-old student accused the singer of dating and raping her when she was 17.

This statement triggered widespread condemnation of Wu on Chinese social media and caused several luxury brands to abandon their deals with him. The 30-year-old star denied these claims.

The Beijing police stated in a statement that Wu was “criminally detained” on suspicion of rape and “responded to relevant information reported on the Internet,” including that he “repeatedly induced young women to have sex.”

The statement did not provide more details.

On Saturday night, the news of Wu’s detention became the most searched topic on Weibo. Some netizens began to comment on Wu’s social accounts, telling him “Get out of China!”

According to the police, Wu also has Canadian citizenship.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published a short article on the Internet, saying, “Having a foreign nationality is not a talisman. No matter how big the name is, there is no immunity.” “

Wu first became famous as a member of the K-pop boy group EXO, and then left in 2014 to start a successful personal career as a singer, actor, model and variety show judge.

The teenager made public her allegations against him on social media last month, and later in an interview with the Internet portal NetEase.

According to the interview, she thought she met Wu for a career opportunity. Instead, his staff at the scene forced her to drink. As a person who doesn’t go to a bar, she said that her tolerance is very low, and she gets drunk after two drinks. The next day, she woke up in Wu’s bed. She said that he treated her very well that morning and promised to take care of her.

The teenager said that she thought it was the beginning of their relationship. He didn’t stop returning her information until March.

At first, she said she felt sorry for herself. But after learning that other women were treated similarly, she said she felt that there were other women whose situation was worse.

“I don’t believe this is just my personal business. You can even say that this is a problem with the atmosphere of the Chinese entertainment industry.” She said in an interview with Netease.

Since she was accused, more and more people have spoken out online, accusing Wu’s employees of predatory behavior, such as inviting them to carnival karaoke parties.

Due to the escalating influence, brands including Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, L’Oreal Men and Porsche suspended their cooperation with him last week.

Wu, who grew up between Vancouver and Guangzhou, denied all allegations of assault and insisted that he was innocent in multiple social media statements.

The singer stated on July 19 that he had met the young woman on December 5, 2020, but “I did not force her to drink” and “there is no such’detail’ as she described.”

“I have never’forced women to have sex’ or participated in’date rape’,” he wrote, adding that he did not sleep with underage girls.

Wu’s studio also issued a lengthy response to the teenager’s claims, denying any wrongdoing, and claiming that she tried to blackmail her employees millions of yuan and fabricated allegations.

When this statement surfaced, the luxury goods company Bulgari stated that “it attaches great importance to Wu Yifan’s incident and has decided to terminate all related cooperation with Wu Yifan from today.”

His lawyer is suing the teenager for defamation.

The student stated that she was also taking legal action against Wu and stated that the star had tried to buy her silence with 500,000 yuan ($77,100).