Netizens disappointed with media reaction after Faye Wong’s divorce announcement

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Celebrity couple Faye Wong and Li Yapeng divorced last week after eight years of marriage. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:46pm, 17 Sep 2013Updated: 7:48pm, 17 Sep 2013

Many Chinese internet users are angry about the way the mainland media reacted following the announcement last Friday that singer Faye Wong divorced her second husband, Li Yapeng.

The divorce announcement generated enormous interest in China, but also a sparked some tasteless headlines and comments in sections of the mainland media.

Some papers treated the news frivolously. “Faye Wong divorces, Arsenal F.C. one step closer to take the crown,” a headline in the said - as if suggesting a link between the performance of England Premier League’s football club and Wong’s marital status.

“Arsenal F.C. last crowned the Premier League in 2004, but came short a year later - around the same time when Faye Wong married Li Yapeng…Arsenal has not won the league’s champion ever since,” the article said. “It seems the club is finally on the right track after her divorce.”

The reported that Wong’s two marriages, in 1996 and 2005, had also coincided with rises, during those years, in Shanghai’s stock market.

“Do you wonder when the next bull market is? Let’s look forward to Wong’s next marriage to find out,” the report said.

Some netizens also said they disapproved of media reports exploiting the singer’s marital problems just to get attention. Some called the reports shallow and insensitive.