An online news report yesterday pointed to signs that Johanne Liou was set up by the Chinese-language Next Magazine, which filmed her secretly and then published a story and photographs on Wednesday that insinuated she is a high-priced call girl.
The latest development in the controversy over Liou (劉喬安), the female celebrity dubbed “Queen of the Sunflower movement” (太陽花女王), has legal experts and commentators calling for an investigation into the conduct of some tabloid-style media organizations.
Hong Kong-based news site on.cc yesterday said it has obtained the original 12-minute uncut video of Liou, filmed in a hotel room, discussing matters with a businessman who was identified as a photographer working for Next Magazine.
Screen grab from Johanne Liou’s Facebook account
On.cc said Liou was contacted by a woman called Hsiao Hsien (小嫻), who allegedly acted as an intermediary for the businessman, who wanted to talk about purchasing wine and other deals with Liou.
Hsiao led Liou to the hotel room, where the man, posing as a Hong Kong businessman, secretly filmed Liou and their conversation with a hidden camera, on.cc said.
Next Magazine alleged that Liou was discussing her price for providing sexual services, and implied that she said she had been engaged in the call girl business for some time.
Liou released statements the next day, saying she had been deceived by Hsiao and the so-called businessman, as she was now in the wine business and was told the man was a customer looking to purchase goods.
Liou also posted a photograph of Hsiao Hsien, which a netizen helped to identify as a female journalist, surnamed Lee (李), who works for Next Magazine.
On.cc’s report yesterday had civic groups and legal experts rallying to Liou’s support, as they called on the judiciary to investigate illegal conduct by the magazine.
Liou also posted a statement saying that she plans to sue.
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‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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