2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 69 One Wave After Another

One stone caused a thousand waves!

After waiting for so long, Chu An, who was in the eye of the storm, finally responded to the scandal, but no one expected him to respond in this way.

As one of the first netizens to see Chu An's post, I was completely stunned after reading the replies.

"Oh my god! What did I just see?"

Thanks to tips from his fans, Ji Yang got out of bed and opened the post.

After reading it, Ji Yang was so angry he laughed.

"Is this guy crazy? How could he dare?"

This explanation, coupled with a response brimming with personal emotion, is riddled with flaws.

His fans and netizens will find countless faults and refute Chu An's claims completely.

At that time, Chu An will not only be criticized for bullying his seniors and being morally corrupt, but will also be labeled with negative tags such as rude, arrogant, and a habitual liar.

Because no actor or public figure has ever spoken like Chu An.

Perhaps, as he wrote in his response to the post, he never considered himself an actor or a public figure.

And
See, he contradicts himself. "He said earlier that he came from an ordinary background and that his family members were laid-off workers, so why did he post a missing person notice?"

But later, he boasted that he was richer than Ji.

It's clearly a PR statement that wasn't polished by a professional team; it was just released like that, and the logic is completely flawed.

With a snap, I closed the laptop and went back to sleep.

Ji Yang felt that all the contingency plans the company had made before were a waste of money when it came to this small dish.

He doesn't even need to organize anything; his fans can verbally abuse Chu An to the point of depression.

As Ji Yang had predicted, things turned out just as he had imagined.

As soon as Chu An posted his post, the comment section was immediately flooded with comments from Ji Yang's fans.

May your whole family die! You big bad guy!

"This is contradictory and utter nonsense. How come you, a laid-off worker, are richer than Ji Yang?"

"I believe it's true that he's rich, but it's hard to say where the money came from. I suggest the relevant departments investigate."

"Chu An's whole family will die."

"Chu An's whole family will die."

If this continues, in just one night, traditional media will swarm in, drawn by the scent of criticism. Seeing the overwhelming condemnation and resistance will set the tone for traditional media, and no one will speak up for Chu An.

Ultimately, this further diminished Chu An's public image.

However, Ji Yang and his fans obviously did not expect that there was a reason why they released a response at this time and chose the network with the most timely feedback as the first source.

Zhang Linlin was also reading Chu An's post at this time.

There was nothing she could do; she wasn't originally interested in entertainment gossip, but she was innocently dragged into it, and she couldn't help but pay attention even if she didn't want to.

Zhang Linlin remained uninterested in Chu An's response, but there were a few points in the post that pleased her.

First, Chu An gave a positive response regarding the misuse of public resources. This made Zhang Linlin feel that he was at least sincere and knew that this matter affected many people. He's much better than Ji Yang's fanatical fans, right? Those people seem to think it's perfectly acceptable for them to disturb other people's lives.

Secondly, Zhang Linlin saw nothing wrong with Chu An's seemingly arrogant words!

She's only a 17 or 8-year-old high school student. Isn't that how we young people talk? We're just straightforward and say what we think, right?
Third, and most importantly, finally someone has stepped forward to deal with Ji Yang's fans. This is tantamount to speaking up for Zhang Linlin from her perspective.

For no other reason than these three points, Zhang Linlin cannot allow Ji Yang's fans to continue to be so arrogant.

A quick reply in the comments section: "Arrogant? Who's more arrogant than Ji Yang's fans? Fine, you can curse him and wish his whole family dead? But you won't let him curse back? Who's really arrogant here?"

At this moment, there are quite a few people who share the same view as Zhang Linlin, and Zhang Linlin's reply represents the sentiments of most ordinary netizens.

They didn't care whether Chu An had a powerful background or whether he bullied Ji Yang. If he did bully Ji Yang, he deserved it!

Ji Yang and his fans clearly didn't realize that Chu An's response wasn't meant for them at all.

Rather than saying Chu An was responding to the scandal, it would be more accurate to say that his post provided an outlet for the "silent majority."

Chu An's response was not to clarify the matter, because no one cared about right or wrong.

He even deliberately left loopholes in order not to explain things clearly.

The sole purpose is to provide sufficient emotional value to the general public.

At this point, more and more people joined the fray, attacking Ji Yang's fans alongside Zhang Linlin.

The scattered rebuttal posts from both sides were quickly overwhelmed by Ji Yang's fans, and then the two sides engaged in a fierce and evenly matched exchange of insults.

Finally, the situation became a continuous mass, and Ji Yang's fans were completely overwhelmed by angry netizens.

The next day, as soon as Ji Yang opened his eyes, the sky seemed to have fallen.

With messy, disheveled hair, he sat on the bed, watching the screen on his computer refresh with a frequency even more frantic than his fans':
Where's Ji Yang's dog?! Come out here! If you're not happy, then fight! Why aren't you barking?

[Just because the tiger isn't roaring doesn't mean you grandpas are sick cats, right? You're all barking and yelling everywhere, spouting nonsense in voice chat while you're still learning two-digit addition and subtraction!]

[Bullying? Why the hell didn't they slap that pretty boy to death? Look at Xiao Anzi, that's what you call a man! That's what you call upright!]

Ji Yang, "..." "What happened?"

How come all of Chu An's fans suddenly appeared overnight?! Why weren't they here before?
His assistant, agent, team coordinator, and company executives were all on their way to Ji Yang's house.

They also woke up to find that the situation had changed drastically.

As a result, Ji Yang had to ask Shen Jin for leave to calm down and deal with this matter specifically.

"This cannot continue; we must stop immediately!"

The team quickly realized that these weren't Chu An's fans at all, but rather Ji Yang's fans who had gone too far and provoked public outrage.

The company's management is very experienced in handling such public relations crises and made a decisive decision.

On one hand, Ji Yang's team went to the fan club to appease the fans and guide them to temporarily cease their protests.

On the other hand, the company was instructed to immediately draft public relations materials, and then several television stations were invited to conduct interviews and reports.

At the same time, an online statement was released, roughly as follows:
Mr. Ji Yang has been in the industry for many years, and his reputation and character are widely recognized. He has also created a large number of film, television, and music works that are loved by audiences.

[Ji Yang himself does not support the radical behavior of a few irrational fans and apologizes to the public on behalf of the fans.]

At the same time, Mr. Ji Yang had long intended to settle things peacefully and did not want to get entangled further; otherwise, he would not have written those poetic lines in his diary.

Finally, Mr. Ji Yang solemnly declares that he will no longer respond to any of Mr. Chu An's insults and attacks, and will focus on creating more excellent works to give back to society.

This is a standard public relations document for the entertainment industry; it can even be used as a template.

Start by stacking "armor" to establish your image.

The second step is to shift the blame to the fans and generously take responsibility on their behalf.

The third step is to elevate oneself while subtly mocking the other party in relation to a specific incident, while simultaneously achieving an Indian-style spiritual victory: "I was going to be magnanimous and forgive them anyway."

Finally, we must elevate our thinking and occupy the moral high ground.

To put it bluntly, seeing things weren't going well, they turned tail and ran. After this statement, I'm not playing with you anymore!
They adopted a "cold treatment" approach, "removing it from the trending topics and burying their heads in the sand."

Too bad, you're the one who started this trouble, and now you want to run away?

President Chu had already blocked his path long ago.

Public sentiment has risen, and Chu An, the person involved, has also stepped forward to state, "I'm not afraid of life or death; if you're not convinced, then fight!"

People who didn't originally like entertainment gossip have been drawn into it.

You're saying you don't want to play anymore and you just quit?

[Damn! I have a feeling this Ji Yang isn't a good person; he's so hypocritical.]

Whether Chu An is a good person or not is unknown and unimportant, but Ji Yang is truly a scoundrel. His fans have been hurling insults at him for so long, and he didn't step in to stop them, but now that Chu An has responded, he's chickened out.

If he's not in the wrong, why is he backing down?

Ji Yang was so angry he felt like he was about to explode!

Only after repeated dissuasion from the company's management and agent did he refrain from engaging in the activity again.

"Why are you bothering with all this? At this point, someone will definitely jump out and stir up trouble to cool down the public opinion, and then no one will say anything anymore."

"This matter will be forgotten in less than ten days."

The company and the agent are both right. The internet does have a memory, but it is also very short-lived.

New hot topics will soon emerge, and new public figures will overshadow everything today.

But this time.
It takes a while to remember.
Just two days later, the online buzz hasn't died down yet.

In a CCTV interview, renowned performing artist Zhang Lanfang was asked for her opinion on the verbal battle between Chu An and Ji Yang, and whether Chu An's response was vulgar. She said the following:
"I think Xiao Chu's response was fine. How can an eighteen-year-old boy be expected to be tactful? Young people should be full of vigor and passion!"

Alright! Chu An is called hot-blooded, but what about Ji Yang? He chickens out at the slightest touch?
What truly ignited public outcry was another statement Zhang Lanfang made: "I think instead of focusing on this matter, people should examine our media more closely."

"Is it appropriate for a TV station to openly say that someone has a powerful background in a nationally broadcast program, implying that they abuse their power and that society is corrupt?"

That statement is incredibly damaging.

The source of public opinion, "Entertainment Frontline," which gained a lot of viewership through this incident, was suddenly pushed to the forefront of the storm.

The vast majority of netizens and the general public, who had already driven Ji Yang's fans to the brink of oblivion, were getting increasingly bored when "Entertainment Frontline" suddenly appeared.

They immediately turned their attention to attacking Beijing-Tianjin TV.

Under pressure and an investigation by the State Administration of Radio and Television, Beijing-Tianjin Satellite TV quickly issued a statement to conduct a comprehensive self-examination of the broadcast "accident" of "Entertainment Frontline".

then
That program was truly gone, and the host, Xiaoju, never had the chance to return to the stage of Beijing-Tianjin TV.

For the vast majority of netizens, this is undoubtedly a great victory, enough to keep them excited for days.

Just when Ji Yang thought the matter was finally over, Ji Yinglai, the production coordinator of "The Best of Us," made an insider revelation that reignited the online frenzy.

That's one.
The story of a gifted teenager who saves a film crew.

.

It's available for purchase now, and I'm currently writing it. I'm staying home today, so there should be around 4.5 chapters left, depending on my progress.

Everyone, please vote, give a tip, and I'm feeling a bit jealous.

(End of this chapter)