Chinese top celebrities Xiao Zhan and goddess Yang Mi recently attended the "Weibo Night" awards ceremony, winning the "Weibo King" and "Weibo Queen" awards in style. However, behind the scenes, controversy arose as Xiao Zhan's seat was reportedly moved outward in secret and questions emerged over Yang Mi's fight for the center position. That night, the organizers explained that it was due to staff negligence, but netizens were skeptical, believing the staff were made scapegoats. On the 7th, the organizers issued a second apology on Weibo to Xiao Zhan and Yang Mi, providing a detailed explanation of the process.
The organizers stated, “At around 2 PM on February 5th, the on-site seating and name tags were all accurately arranged according to the established plan. However, during a later review, due to vacancies in the second row center seats, staff made an operational error and mistakenly moved Mr. Xiao Zhan’s and some other name tags outward, causing a change in name tag positions. Upon discovering the issue, platform staff corrected it immediately during the event. Throughout the entire process, Ms. Yang Mi and her team were not involved, nor did they intervene in any seating or name tag arrangements. The related information circulating online is not true.”
Sina Weibo stated it would strengthen detail management to prevent this issue from recurring. Due to the organizer's mistake, fans of Xiao Zhan felt sorry for their idol for not being able to sit in his seat, as sitting in a relatively remote position is seen as a sign of lower status. In the end, the organizers changed the seats back. Meanwhile, fans of Xiao Zhan and Yang Mi dug up scandals about the other’s idol, arguing fiercely. Netizens, however, thought that seeing Weibo apologize twice is evidence of its declining power, and joked that Weibo managed to offend all the celebrities while organizing an event, with constant seat changes leaving everyone dissatisfied. Holding an event in this way is quite a feat.
Sina Weibo stated it would strengthen detail management to prevent this issue from recurring. Due to the organizer's mistake, fans of Xiao Zhan felt sorry for their idol for not being able to sit in his seat, as sitting in a relatively remote position is seen as a sign of lower status. In the end, the organizers changed the seats back. Meanwhile, fans of Xiao Zhan and Yang Mi dug up scandals about the other’s idol, arguing fiercely. Netizens, however, thought that seeing Weibo apologize twice is evidence of its declining power, and joked that Weibo managed to offend all the celebrities while organizing an event, with constant seat changes leaving everyone dissatisfied. Holding an event in this way is quite a feat.