Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) yesterday said that media personality Lucifer Chu (朱學恒) was exploiting the justice system to whitewash his reputation after he filed for an investigation into himself over her allegations that he sexually harassed her.
Chung on Thursday accused Chu, a political commentator and popular YouTuber, of forcibly hugging and kissing her at a dinner in August last year.
Chu wrote an apology and on Friday suspended his YouTube channel, while saying he would stop appearing in the media and at public events for the time being.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
He yesterday filed a judicial complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, seeking an investigation into himself.
However, Chung told a news conference in Taipei that “Chu is playacting to exploit the justice system and deceive the public to gain their sympathy, as he has shown no remorse for his behavior.”
“The pain is still there, and to this day I still have nightmares, and get scared when someone approaches suddenly,” she said. “It still casts a dark shadow over me.”
She said that Chu had made unwanted physical contact with other women at social functions, but they have not spoken out publicly.
In the latest allegation of sexual harassment against a high-profile figure in Taiwan, independent Yunlin County Councilor Chen Fang-ying (陳芳盈) yesterday said that a media figure last year asked her to have sex with him during a social gathering at a KTV.
Chen wrote online that she had to speak up to denounce what she called a brazen act by the person, who she said had spoken on talk shows attacking Chu.
Chen said the incident was a gathering with local politicians and members of the media, and the person, speaking openly in front of other present, asked her twice to have sex with him.
Following her post, people who said they were present at the event identified the person as veteran TV show host and political pundit Chu Kai-hsiang (朱凱翔).
Soon after, Chu Kai-hsiang posted a message online apologizing to Chen.
“Although I don’t remember saying those words ... if Councilor Chen felt [I had done so], then I offer my apology,” he said.
“I shall reflect on gender issues ... and I will fully cooperate, if Chen wishes to file a complaint for a judicial investigation,” he said.
Separately, Wu Nai-teh (吳乃德), a retired Academia Sinica research fellow renowned for his work on democratization and transitional justice, on Friday offered an apology to a woman surnamed Huang (黃), who had said he had sexually harassed her 13 years ago when she was a college student.
Writing on social media on Sunday, she said she wanted to talk about the 2010 experience to speak to others and her past self, after reading so many #MeToo articles.
Huang said she spoke with a senior student who was in the same field as Wu immediately after the incident, but they told her she should let it go.
She later received a call from Wu, who said he was sorry and should not have done what he did to her, she wrote.
Wu said he apologized to Huang and for the torment she has endured over the past 13 years.
Wu said he is resigning from the board of the Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation, an organization he established in 2007 that focuses on transitional justice, and would no longer participate in public affairs because he has lost the public’s trust.
Additional reporting by CNA
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