Chinese boy band TV show ‘Youth With You’, with Blackpink’s Lisa as judge, goes off the air after competitor’s parents alleged to have links to illegal activities
- Youth With You Season 3 has been suspended after allegations surrounding Tony Yu Jingtian’s family
- The lead competitor’s parents have been accused of having links to illegal businesses
A mainland boy band competition show has been taken off the air after the parents of one of its contestants were alleged to have links to illegal businesses.
The Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau on Tuesday suspended Youth With You Season 3, produced by Chinese streaming website iQiyi, after meeting with iQiyi’s producers to require compliance with broadcasting regulations. The suspension came after the show’s leading contestant, Tony Yu Jingtian, was embroiled in scandals about his parents’ former karaoke business and viewers questioned his nationality.
Broadcast since February, the show had four judges who used public votes to select nine winners from 119 contestants to form a boy band. The judges included Lisa from hit K-pop girl band Blackpink.
Yu is one of the 20 contestants to compete in the finals originally scheduled for broadcast on May 8. The Chengdu native emigrated to Canada with his family in 2008.
Online posts implicating Yu’s parents in allegedly illegal businesses before their emigration to Canada started to appear at the end of April on Douban, one of the most popular social media platforms in China. The posts alleged the karaoke business run by Yu’s parents was involved in drug trafficking and prostitution. In response to the posts, Yu’s mother, Li Qin, wrote on the massive microblogging site Weibo that she was sad her past imprudent business dealings had adversely affected her son.
