The Chinese entertainment industry was recently rocked by controversy after actress Wang Yuwen made the rare and shocking decision to publicly suspend promotions for a drama she stars in.
The urban romance drama A Sudden Love officially premiered not long ago, marking the on-screen reunion of Wang Yuwen and actor Chen Xingxu. Centered on a time-travel concept, the series tells the story of streamer Qiu Huaner (Wang Yuwen) and domineering CEO Gao Haiming (Chen Xingxu). Their romance unfolds across two different timelines, creating chaotic yet hilarious situations as modern sensibilities clash with another era.
Thanks to its fresh premise and fast-paced storytelling, A Sudden Love was quickly labeled a “dark horse” of the New Year drama season. Just three days after its release, the series surpassed 25,000 heat points on Tencent Video and recorded nearly 1 billion views on Douyin. Much of this success was attributed to Wang Yuwen’s proactive promotional efforts, including frequent livestreams, self-produced short videos to boost traffic, and participation in offline publicity events.
However, in the early hours of January 25, Wang Yuwen’s studio released a bombshell statement announcing the immediate suspension of all promotional activities related to A Sudden Love. The statement accused the drama’s publicity team of spreading malicious rumors and intentionally stirring up controversy across social media platforms.
According to the studio, Wang Yuwen had followed the production team’s request to post two promotional videos on Douyin in a single day, an action that unintentionally violated an unwritten Weibo rule regarding posting frequency during a drama’s airing period. Instead of taking responsibility, the drama’s PR team allegedly shifted the blame onto the actress, falsely claiming she had acted independently. More seriously, they were accused of spreading defamatory claims suggesting that “Wang Yuwen has problems with her character.”
These false narratives reportedly caused platforms to directly fault the actress, placing her in a passive position and significantly damaging her public image. Wang Yuwen’s studio stressed that all promotional duties had been fully completed prior to the dispute. Even more troubling, the PR team allegedly contacted platforms and conveyed misleading information without informing the actress, completely breaking the basic trust required for professional collaboration.
Just two hours later, the production team behind A Sudden Love issued an emergency apology. Through the drama’s official Weibo account, they admitted that their affiliated publicity team had spread unfounded rumors and seriously tarnished Wang Yuwen’s reputation and personal integrity. The production team announced three immediate measures: the dismissal of all involved personnel, termination of cooperation with the problematic PR team, and a full restructuring and standardization of their promotional and distribution processes. An official apology was also sent directly to Wang Yuwen’s studio.
This short-lived but explosive clash exposed a long-standing issue within the Chinese entertainment industry—actors being pushed forward as scapegoats for failures in promotional strategy. Although Wang Yuwen later reassured fans that the matter had been properly resolved, online discussions continued to spiral.
Within just half a day, the controversy surrounding Wang Yuwen and A Sudden Love climbed to No.1 on Weibo’s hot search twice, accumulating over 200 million reads. Many netizens criticized the drama’s publicity team for what they described as a “self-destructive” handling of the situation, while expressing sympathy for the actress caught in the crossfire.