How to piss off a billion people: China’s top beauty anchor enrages consumers with comments
Chinese beauty influencer Li Jiaqi apologised on Weibo for inappropriate remarks he made to a consumer during one of his livestreams.
During a Sept 10 livestreaming session, a viewer had remarked to Li that the cost of an eyebrow pencil – S$15 – had risen.
The celebrity anchor was seemingly upset about the comment, saying that the price hadn’t increased for years.
“Is the product expensive? Sometimes, people need to find out why they haven’t received a pay rise after working so many years. Have they worked enough?” he replied.
The answer enraged consumers and triggered a heated discussion online.
Li, who is often referred to as China’s King of Lipsticks, after selling 15,000 lipsticks in under five minutes on one occasion, apologised the following night.
He responded: “I made inappropriate remarks. I’ve been reflecting on my conduct today… How disappointed I would be if I were the girl commenting. I was a make-up counter salesman, and I know everyone’s job is hard. I’m sorry that what I said didn’t meet your expectations.”
Li, who has over 75 million followers on Taobao Live, lost 66,000 Weibo followers after the incident, and many netizens weren’t buying into his apology.
“Double 11 (shopping festival) is coming, so you must issue a hypocritical apology because you still want to earn money from poor people,” one Weibo user wrote in response to Li’s mea culpa.
“If I made 5 million yuan a day ($945K), my tears would be much more sincere than yours,” read another comment.
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