Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) yesterday said she has obtained broadcast regulators’ approval to play the sea goddess Matsu (媽祖) in a TV drama.
Chen wrote on Facebook that she and the production team of Formosa TV’s Taiwan New Mysteries had been granted approval from the National Communications Commission (NCC).
Local media reported that filming for the show earlier this week began at the Tainan Grand Matsu Temple (台南大天后宮).
Photo: Wang Mei-Hsiu, Taipei Times
Elected officials are subject to greater scrutiny when they appear in TV shows, which is as it should be, Chen said.
Before accepting the role, she consulted laws and regulations pertinent to the matter, Chen said.
Citing the commission’s approval, Chen said that politicians are allowed to appear in a drama as long as their role is not designed to boost their political career.
The commission highlighted that elected officials are barred from writing or editing a drama, she added.
Responding to criticism that she allegedly received preferential treatment from the commission, Chen said that her case is not comparable to that of Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who was on Aug. 30 fined NT$200,000 for a cameo in a separate TV show.
Lu played herself in the TVBS show Girl’s Power, while Chen has been cast to play a character different from her role as lawmaker, she said.
“There is no double standard,” Chen added.
The Taipei District Court has upheld Lu’s fine, saying that her appearance in the show in 2019 was intended to boost her as Taichung mayor and promote the Taichung Flora Expo.
Her role had been added to the script at a late stage of the writing process, it added.
In the finished script, the show’s protagonists incidentally meet Lu at their wedding and praise her for her good taste in men, which indicates that Lu’s appearance was intended to promote her as mayor, the court said.
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