Edison Chen sex scandal rages on

February 27, 8:38 PMLA Foreign Movie ExaminerLydia Ianni

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Chen, second from left (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

The Edison Chen sex scandal, which has rocked the Hong Kong film industry, rages on almost a year after its initial outbreak. The scandal involves the accidental release of sexual photos of Chen with major Hong Kong actresses. Chen reportedly believed he had erased the photos from his computer before taking it in for repairs. This is apparently when the photo leak occurred and the man who is accused of leaking the photos from Chen's computer is currently on trial.

Though not being prosecuted himself, Chen has appeared in court to testify during the trial. According to globeandmail.com, Chen has stayed mum on details about the other actresses, reportedly to protect their reputations. Chen has insisted that everything in the photos was consensual and intended to be private. Unfortunately, nothing is ever really private these days. If you are a celebrity and you take some naughty pics, you can beat they'll end up a number one google search at some point.

So What? Chen was a huge young pop star in the Hong Kong film industry but Americans may recognize him as Eason in The Grudge 2 and from a small role in The Dark Knight. For Hong Kong film buffs, Chen played the young version of Lau Kin Ming, the corrupt cop, in Infernal Affairs II, the prequel to Infernal Affairs which was remade by Martin Scorsese into The Departed. Born in Canada, Chen was able to straddle both Hollywood and Hong Kong industries with success, that is until the scandal broke. 

So what? While making a sex tape helps your career in the U.S., the Hong Kong film industry is a bit more conservative in this area.  This scandal has destroyed both Chen's career as well as many of the actresses in the photos. According to Telegraph the negative reaction to the scandal was so bad that Chen was forced to leave Hong Kong to go to his native Canada, and has since retired from the film industry entirely at only 28.

This seems to me to be a bit of a shame for someone relatively young. I'm certainly not advocating Hollywood's approach though either. There are a number of celebrities here who seem to only have a career based on leaked sex tapes (you know who you are...) and this seems like a poor excuse for talent. It seems like a response somewhere between destroying a career and catapulting someone with no talent to stardom would be an appropriate response to consensual (though a bit naughty) self-made media. 

Any thoughts?