Eleanor Lee's former assistant admits to faking controversial audio recording, actress files police report

Singaporean actress Eleanor Lee's former assistant has admitted to fabricating the controversial audio clip of the actress supposedly insulting mainland Chinese. The 25-year-old China-based Lee, daughter of Mediacorp artiste Quan Yifong, has filed a police report.

According to several media outlets, such as Chinese media outlet QQ News, the controversy surrounding the recording was believed to have led to a delay in the broadcast of Lee's TV series Go To The Mountains And Sea.

On Wednesday (May 21), Lee’s former assistant, identified as Xiao Pang, released an official statement on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

“I would like to express my sincerest apologies to Eleanor through this clarification statement. I am very sorry that my wrong behaviour has caused a series of misunderstandings and even abuse against Eleanor,” said the assistant.

Xiao Pang worked as an executive agent for Lee from 2017 to 2019, handling her film and television work. But there were still many unresolved disputes after the assistant's contract was terminated.

“I felt that I was not treated fairly, so I privately recorded Eleanor’s conversations before leaving. Because the labour dispute between the company and I had not been resolved, I intended to use the edited and synthesised recordings to negotiate with the company.”

From 2019 to 2024, the assistant failed to seek any compensation from the company and had been blocked by the company’s contact person.

“I thought that my grievances were not addressed and I was criticised in some fans’ online conversations,” said Xiao Pang. “So in July 2024, I posted the edited and synthesised recordings in the group chat between the company and some fans. I also made up a lot of content on impulse."

Xiao Pang added: "I did not expect that my wrong behaviour would eventually escalate into such a serious incident and cause such a great negative impact on Eleanor.”

The former assistant also described Lee as a “positive, hardworking and talented girl” who “never expressed her disapproval of China or the Chinese people”.

“She never said, nor could she say, the insulting words I edited and synthesised about the Chinese people,” the former assistant said. 

On the same day, Lee posted a video on Instagram addressing Xiao Pang’s statement and said that she had filed a police report and has been assisting in investigations. 

She said: “After investigation by the public security authorities, the so-called ‘Eleanor Lee insulting Chinese people’ recording circulating on the internet was illegally recorded by my former assistant during the labour dispute with the former company, which was then edited and fabricated.”

She added: “I was born in Taiwan, China, and returned to China to study and live at the age of 16. It has been ten years since then. My feelings and positions on China have never wavered. I have always adhered to the one-China principle and I would never say anything insulting China and the Chinese.”