Fans of the late Coco Lee and who watched the Chinese variety show Sing! China last year would remember that she had an outburst on stage as she stood up for her mentee.

It seemed that she received mistreatment by the production team after that.

Last September, during the production of the seventh season of Sing! China where Coco was a mentor, her mentee Zhou Feige was eliminated despite receiving a higher score than another contestant.

In the video taken by the audience that went viral, she shouted angrily: "[You must be] blind! Everyone is watching! Please tell me the rules of the competition. Why does someone with a score of 73 get a second chance, and another with 88.3 doesn't?

"Can the director please explain, is this fair? Even if you won't say it, everyone will."

Another video showing the same incident was uploaded to Weibo today (Aug 18).

In a nine-minute audio file leaked on Chinese social media platform Weibo last night, the female voice, believed to be Coco, had a tirade about how she was "bullied" by the director and the latter's team during and after her outburst.

'I have never heard of someone speaking to me like this'

Coco, who died at the age of 48 on July 5, can be heard speaking angrily and in tears as she said that in the midst of her outburst, the director's two assistants manhandled her.

She said: "The assistants said that I had to leave immediately or they would call security. Saying this to someone with 28 years [of experience]. I have never heard of someone speaking to me like this.

"The assistant manhandled me, she wanted to catch me because I can feel that she pulled at my clothes. My eyes were closed at the time because I was crying and she held onto me and pulled me off [the stage]."

Coco added in the audio clip that because she had the support of netizens and fans who saw the problem with the competition rules, the production team was willing to change the rules on one condition — she had to make a Weibo post addressing the outburst.

"They threatened me that they can give Feige a chance to clinch the fifth spot to return to sing on this stage provided that I write a Weibo post, otherwise he will have no chance to return," she said.

In the end, Coco did make the post.

"Of course I must protect my mentee… I feel that the production team is obliged to change the rules, why do I have to answer for their fault? But I wrote it in the end so that Feige can have a chance to return to the stage to showcase how talented he is and how worthy he is to remain on the stage. I can bear the unjust treatment and make the post," she said angrily.

'I didn't expect that they are all a bunch of bad people'

Coco also angrily recounted about how she was ill-treated during the filming of the final episode of the variety show on Oct 14, 2022.

She said: "Yes, I went to Sing! China and didn't even want my life anymore. My doctor begged me not to go because my breast cancer is a ticking time bomb, understand? I don't even care about it because I like this show and feel that these young people are full of passion and love music. Our common language is our love for music.

"It's okay if I sacrifice myself, but I didn't expect that they are all a bunch of bad people and made me suffer because I told the truth. This is a fact, there are problems with the rules of the competition."

She added that she didn't even know her contract or how much she was getting for being on the show.

"I don't care about it because I feel that this is a good show… How much I am paid, I don't care, it's not about the money. I do it because of the show, because of these participants," she said furiously.

'As a singer of 28 years, I was humiliated on stage'

Coco went on to share that they had a rehearsal on Oct 11, 2022, and she had told her mentee Wang Zepeng that her leg was not well and she couldn't stand for too long, so he had to stand beside her on stage.

She added that she did not want crutches or a wheelchair because she did not want the audience to see that she was unwell. She shared that they had also told the production team and gave them, including the director, a copy of her X-ray results as proof and they said that they would do as she requested.

She said, whimpering: "But when it came to the actual filming, do you know what? They cued Zepeng away [from me] so that he stood on the other side and not beside me. I couldn't stand straight. I couldn't hold on, I was wearing seven-inch heels to look beautiful for the show, I bought clothes with my own money all for this show."

Coco also said that she bore the pain during filming and it felt like she had "hypothermia", where she felt so cold that she was numb.

She continued, wailing as she said: "Did anyone think about my feelings? As a singer of 28 years, I was humiliated on stage. This is called disgraced, being bullied. Did anyone consider my feelings? How can you let me suffer like this? My goodness, what is this!

"Now the heavens have forced me, I can't even dance anymore. Dancing is what makes me most happy and I can't do it anymore. Now do you know my story!"

She also said that when she saw the finals that was aired, it was "as if [she] did not go for filming at all" as most of her scenes were edited out.

"All my hardwork and effort, all of them are gone, it's like I never went, it's like I was thoughtless and did not put in my effort," she said.

Sing! China responds

In response to the audio leak, the production team of Sing! China made a statement in a Weibo post last night.

It reads: "As a mentor of Sing! China 2022, Coco Lee put in her efforts wholeheartedly. Although there were misunderstandings during the production, it was resolved after communication.

"Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be explaining about the matter again, and will always remember her sincere devotion for the show. We hope that she can rest in peace."

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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