Wang Lei speaks of 'betrayal' following another apology by fellow livestreamers to Chan Brothers

Following a joint public apology by livestreamers Elvin Low and Zzen Chan to Chan Brothers Travel on Wednesday (Nov 6) for allegations made against the agency, veteran getai performer Wang Lei has expressed that the duo's statements "do not represent [his] position".

A Facebook post published the same afternoon on Wang Lei's livestreaming channel, which made references to the pair, also claimed: "We have been betrayed."

"You said we would fight together, and we believed you. In the end, you abandoned us and ran away. We were in the same boat and you abandoned ship," read a part of the post, written in both Chinese and English.

The post was shared by Wang Lei to his personal Facebook page.

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The latest responses by Wang Lei, Elvin and Zzen come more than a year after Chan Brothers Travel, one of Singapore's biggest travel agencies, said it would be taking legal action against the group of "public figures" for "false and unfounded allegations" they'd made over livestream. 

In his latest post on Nov 6, Wang Lei acknowledged the livestreamers' apologies but stated: "I wish to clarify the statements issued by Zenn and Elvin are statements made for themselves and the statements do not represent my position."

Wang Lei also hosted a 1.5-hour livestream later that day, where he reiterated his sentiment about the pair's apology: "I’m not angry, I’m hurt."

The 63-year-old also expressed his displeasure over not being personally informed about their intention to apologise at the earliest time. Instead, he had first learned about it from someone else, he shared. 

Allegations made during Europe tour last July

The saga had first erupted last year, after Wang Lei, who has 1.4 million followers on Facebook, had gone live on the social media platform on July 16, along with several others, to air their grievances about their tour.

According to statements that have been published on both sides, Chan Brothers was the organiser of a private tour to Europe for the party of 15, including Wang Lei, Elvin and Zzen. 

In their statement, Elvin and Zzen, who manage the FasterBuyLah and Empire Home Live Facebook pages respectively, stated that the private tour to Croatia and Austria was led by Wang Lei.

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The duo also stated in their apology that during the tour, their group had provided feedback to Chan Brothers on "issues encountered", which the latter had attempted to promptly rectify.

They stated that the travel agency had also invited them as well as others to meet them following their return "so they could hear and investigate our concerns better".

The two of them then sought a partial return of the monies paid and expressed their intention to "air our discontent on Facebook livestream should our request not be met", the statement read.

According to the rest of the statement, both Elvin and Zzen were dissatisfied with Chan Brothers' response that they would need more time to investigate the feedback, and "participated in making numerous statements against the services rendered by Chan Brothers and Chan Brothers' operations" through various Facebook livestreams.

"We now acknowledge that these statements have caused Chan Brothers to suffer reputational harm," the duo stated, and that the videos "with objectionable content" have since been removed from their platforms.

'Three of 8 livestreamers have reached private settlements'

The pair's statement follows a similar public apology issued by Jayner Teh on April 15 this year. Jayner was formerly known as a disciple of Wang Lei but has since left his e-commerce platform.

In a statement to media on Nov 6, Chan Brothers added that Elvin and Zzen "have reached a private settlement" with the group in addition to their public apologies.

Stating that it had initiated legal proceedings against those involved "to protect its brand integrity", the agency added: "To date, three of the eight livestreamers have reached private settlements with Chan Brothers via their respective lawyers and issued public apologies."

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candicecai@asiaone.com