Chinese actress Xin Zhilei recently won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for the movie “Sunlit Sky.” While she was expected to return home in glory after receiving the award, she instead found herself embroiled in a “hair-pulling controversy.” It all started when, after winning the award, actress Hao Lei posted a cryptic message, sharply mocking that “you can win Best Actress just by pulling hair.” Although she didn’t specify any names, netizens immediately guessed: “Isn’t this a still from Xin Zhilei’s film?” The tension was heightened by the fact that the two seemingly had no prior personal relationship.
As the controversy intensified, Hao Lei finally addressed the issue directly on the 1st, when attending the Singapore Golden Lion Awards event. She insisted the whole thing was a “major misunderstanding” and emphasized that she had already communicated with Xin Zhilei privately on the day of the incident: “I wasn’t talking about her at all!” She even reiterated that she was badly misunderstood. However, even after her explanation, netizens remained unconvinced, commenting, “Not about Xin Zhilei? Then are you willing to say you weren’t hinting at her?” and “The whole world knows who you were talking about, except you.” Many mockingly added, “If it was really a misunderstanding, why didn’t you clarify publicly right away? Why wait until it blew up?”
Faced with the external doubts, Xin Zhilei did not back down. She immediately responded, firmly stating, “The ‘hair-pulling’ in the film was just a small part of the character’s expression; an actor should be evaluated based on the complete work, not just a single scene.”
Source: Liberty Times Net (自由娱乐)