Parents of Miss Hong Kong 2023 1st runner-up accused of being fugitives who fled China after cheating tuition centre clients and employees
When one joins the Miss Hong Kong pageant, one has to be prepared for the negative publicity that follows.
First, this year's Miss Hong Kong, Hilary Chong, 21, was called "two-faced". Now, the first runner-up Lynn Wang, also 21, has had her family's dirty laundry aired in public.
Many netizens had left comments on Xiao Hong Shu claiming that Lynn's parents, who owned tuition centres in more than 10 cities in China, had failed to pay their employees.
They were also accused of cheating their clients' tuition fees that amounted to more than 10 million yuan (S$2mil).
To escape from their debtors, Lynn's family then fled to Hong Kong.
TVB has since been slammed for not doing a background check on Lynn.
Netizens have also demanded TVB investigate the matter and asked for them to strip Lynn of her title if the accusations turn out to be true.
When speaking to Hong Kong media hk01 at an event at Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday (Aug 28), Lynn said: "Actually these all are personal matters so it's not convenient for me to talk about them. I've seen the comments as well, but I don't want to create more misunderstanding so I can't say more."
Did the comments stress her out though?
"More or less, but I still need to live my life. After all I'm already 21. I can't stop working just because of some comments," she said.
Lynn declined to respond to questions about her parents fleeing to Hong Kong as she's "not sure" if they are true or not.
She did, however, give a cryptic response when asked if she's worried that her title would be taken away from her.
"I want to say some things are true and some things aren't. I wish everyone could discern the truth for themselves too," she said.
As for why she didn't invite her parents to the finals on Sun (Aug 27), Lynn's said: "They have their own work to do. I've always been by myself. I'm already 21 so I have to be independent."
"I'm also used to it already. I don't think it's a problem for my family not to be there to witness the moment. I'm also not envious that the other delegates had their parents there as I'm not an orphan," she added.
Miss Hong Kong 2023 top 3. From left: Lynn, Hilary and second runner-up Lovelle Wang
TVB issued a statement to address the matter yesterday (Aug 29).
"The accusations haven't been verified and in order to avoid causing misunderstanding for the public as well as hurt for those involved, we will not be responding to the rumours. Thank you everyone for your understanding and support," they wrote.
Photos: hk01
