Media Figure: Celebrities Quickly Deny Rumors Only to Be Swiftly Slapped in the Face; It’s Unwise to Forcefully Deny Without Knowing What the Other Party Has

According to previous reports, Chinese retired basketball player Yi Jianlian was suspected of being involved in a prostitution scandal.

Today, domestic sports media figure @Fu Zhenghao MVP published a long article titled “From Frequent Incidents in Sports to the Optimal Crisis PR Strategy,” which discussed why Yi Jianlian did not deny the allegations.

Excerpts from the article are as follows:

In the past, whenever rumors about Yi Jianlian attending village-level basketball events or intending to invest in the Guangzhou Loong Lions team surfaced, his management company would issue statements to deny them. Even for these trivial rumors that did little harm to Yi Jianlian’s reputation, they would still issue statements to deny them. So why is the management company silent or even refusing to answer calls now when faced with such a major crisis?

Why didn’t Yi Jianlian’s management company issue a statement this time? After reviewing the previous statements, I noticed that they all began with “Authorized by Mr. Yi Jianlian.” This suggests that the previous statements were either requested or permitted by Yi Jianlian himself. If he had requested or authorized a statement, the management company would certainly not have gone against his wishes.

As for why they didn’t quickly deny the allegations, in my view, given how a batch of celebrities in the entertainment industry, like Li Yifeng, quickly denied rumors only to be swiftly proven wrong, it is indeed unwise to forcefully deny without knowing what the other party has in their possession. However, I believe that some information can still be released through third-party informants, such as suggesting that Yi Jianlian was set up, to prevent public opinion from going completely off track.