Overnight, Zhang Jike, a former national idol, table tennis Grand Slam player, and former Olympic champion, used the private video of his celebrity ex-girlfriend to settle debts, and there was a uproar on the Internet. The famous athletes of the past were exposed to huge gambling debts, which made people feel incredible, and privately sending private videos of their ex-star girlfriends to creditors was even more infuriating.
Although this matter has not yet been officially concluded, it still cannot stop the public from exploring the clues of the truth from the existing information.
The event bottoms out
The origin of the incident was that on March 29, a Weibo account posted a screenshot of a forum breaking news, and the statement that retired athlete Zhang Jike was involved in a gambling debt dispute and damaged the privacy of others began to circulate.
Simply put, Zhang Jike owed Mr. S 22 million in 2020, Zhang Jike had no money to pay back, and told Mr. S that he and his ex-girlfriend had common property, so Mr. S sent his ex-girlfriend's video and photos to his agent, asking his ex-girlfriend to repay 22 million on behalf of Zhang Jike (later reduced to 17 million), but the ex-girlfriend chose to call the police, and Mr. S was finally arrested and sentenced to 7 years.
On March 30, Zhang Jike's studio issued a statement saying that "rumored content is pure fabrication" and demanded that disseminators and publishers "immediately remove infringing content."
But the day after Zhang Jike's studio statement (March 31), financial reporter @Li Weiao posted on Weibo: "Zhang Jike passed a private video of a certain woman to others, which is true. ”
In the Weibo introduction, Li Weiao is currently the chief reporter of the Economic Observer, a winner of the Asian Publishing Industry Association (SOPA) Award for Excellence in Journalism, and a visiting professor at Hunan University of Finance and Economics. With more than 20 years of experience, whether it is the "May 12" Wenchuan earthquake or the new crown pneumonia in early 2020, Li Weiao has been rushing to the front line to investigate, and has written a large number of sensational and excellent in-depth investigation reports.
Because of the big V certification, the credibility of things has skyrocketed. On the afternoon of March 31, Zhang Jike's studio once again issued a lawyer's statement, saying that it had begun to collect evidence and citing laws related to "reputation rights". However, only claiming the right to reputation without suing for defamation was also questioned by netizens as "insufficient confidence".
At the same time, Li Weiao's revelations continue to increase, he claims to have seen judicial materials, a total of 3 women's privacy videos, and another video screenshot. He also said that in the judicial materials, Zhang Jike admitted to showing others a private video. Zhang Jike was sued for debt, and the IOU was more than 5 million yuan, and Zhang Jike repaid more than 1 million yuan.
The latest development is that Zhang Jike's studio has a "complete denial" attitude and "immediately prepares to sue." Li Weiao said that he would actively respond to the lawsuit when it came, and found out the interview records and documents, Zhang Jike's IOU and other evidence.
In addition to leaking the private video of his ex-girlfriend, there are also many other revelations about Zhang Jike's character on the Internet, such as "Zhang Jike often gambles money and owes huge gambling debts", "uses celebrity ex-girlfriends as capital to show off", "has borrowed money from many people in the entertainment industry" and so on.
Because the object involved is a former national athlete, and the victim is related to a well-known actress in the entertainment industry, coupled with the words of the blessing person who broke the news and his media professional background, the matter set off a wave of discussion on the Internet, almost catching up with the traffic stars Wu Moufan and Li Moufeng who collapsed before.
From glory to negativity
Zhang Jike was first known to the public as a table tennis player, and his strongest achievement was 445 days to complete a Grand Slam. From winning the men's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam in May 2011, to winning the men's singles championship of the Paris Table Tennis World Cup on November 15, 2011, until the strong victory of the men's singles championship at the 2012 London Olympics, Zhang Jike only took more than a year to reach the Grand Slam of the three individual championships of the World Championships, the World Cup and the Olympic Games, which is the highest honor in the world in the field of table tennis, and is the third Grand Slam player in the history of Chinese men's table tennis after Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui.
Before that, his title was "Genius Problem Boy". As a table tennis young genius, Zhang Jike was expelled from the national team for violating discipline and returned to the provincial team, and then returned to the national team with his strength, and many people like him to have blood and more personality on the playing field, calling him "Tibetan Mastiff".
But at the same time as the honor is added, the negative about Zhang Jike has never been broken.
According to Jiupai News, in July 2015, Chinanews.com reported that German media exposed that during the National Table Tennis competition in Germany in March 2015, Zhang Jike was found to have sneaked out of the hotel and left with a group of people, "Their destination is a casino..."
As early as 2004, 16-year-old Zhang Jike was also exposed to gambling by "Sports Weekly", the article said: At the end of 2004, Zhang Jike left the team in the process of going out to play because he borrowed the bank card of a table tennis celebrity to participate in the gambling "game", and after losing money, he could not face the cruel reality and left the team in the process of going out to play, and was found after several turns.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, Zhang Jike began to fade out of the arena. In March 2018, Zhang Jike and a celebrity lady had a public relationship. But just 1 year and 3 months later, the two officially announced their breakup.
The champion turns into a variety showman
Due to his outstanding personality and outstanding career record, Zhang Jike's commercial value has always been among the best in the field.
After the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Zhang Jike quickly appeared in the circle with his performance during the Olympics, and the explosion of videos such as "Zhang Jike Awakening" made him a phenomenal "Internet celebrity", and the super high popularity growth also made Zhang Jike's commercial value soar and become a spokesperson for major brands.
According to incomplete statistics, Zhang Jike said about Mizuno Sports Brand, China Resources Yibao Mineral Water, Butterfly Sports Bag Series, Coca-Cola, Li Ning, Mengniu Pure Milk, Ping An Car Insurance, Yanjing Beer, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Anta and many other brands. Industry insiders revealed that its age cost is in the tens of millions of levels.
In 2017, Sports Weekly announced the wealth list of China's sports world, and Zhang Jike ranked second with an annual income of 60 million yuan, second only to Sun Yang.
After the Rio Olympics, Zhang Jike began to frequently participate in variety shows recognized as "fast to get money", and stepped into the entertainment industry. According to incomplete statistics, Zhang Jike has participated in more than 20 variety shows such as "Big Star of Yobar", "Crossover Singer", "Every Day Up", "We Are Coming", "Familiar Taste", "Challenging the Impossible", "Spit Conference", "Daughters' Love", "Let's Fall in Love", "Run Brother", "The Amazing Race" and other more than 20 variety shows in the past few years, becoming a familiar variety show frequent guest to the audience.
So far, Zhang's personal Weibo has more than 10 million followers, and his studio Weibo account has more than 1 million fans. The uninterrupted brand cooperation titles such as Shufajia spokesperson, Runbaiyan new product experience officer, Xiangyi herbal skin care ambassador, Nivea men's brand skin care ambassador, Nordland brand spokesperson, and Mousse dream spokesperson prove his popularity, but the high-density exposure of various variety shows also consumes his popularity.
Brand cut
In addition to endorsements, Zhang Jike also has his own business plate. But the huge endorsement and business plan also caused Zhang Jike to fall into disputes many times.
In 2019, the milk tea brand "Monkey's Rescuer" launched a high-profile advertisement: this is a tea brand co-founded by world champion Zhang Jike, and stores have landed in Wenzhou, Qingdao, Sanya, Tianjin, Kunming and other places. According to the franchisee, the earliest publicity standard adopted by the "Monkey's Rescue" company when attracting foreign investment was "Zhang Jike is the co-founder of the company, because of his special status, it cannot be reflected in the company's equity relationship".
Just two years later, the "monkey's rescuer" ran away, and many users said on Weibo that they joined the brand owed money and did not pay back, and suffered serious losses. After the company ran away, Zhang Jike deleted the content related to "monkey rescue" on Weibo.
In addition, Beijing Flying Mastiff World Trading Co., Ltd., which owns 35% of the shares, once launched the "Gold Medal Gift Champion Wine" and associated this wine product with Moutai Group. was also questioned by netizens and said that "Sanwu wine sells 1226 yuan, specifically pit fans." ”
Now, after the news of using the ex-girlfriend's private video to settle the debt after owing a huge gambling debt, the brands that have worked with it have all sold. Anta, Shufajia, and FAW Toyota have successively deleted relevant content on Weibo, in addition, Nivea, WPS, Mousse Bedding, Xilinmen Mattress, Mengniu and other brands that first had cooperative relations with Zhang Jike can not find content related to Zhang Jike in the official Weibo.
Whether Zhang Jike's use of the leaked intimate video of his ex-girlfriend to pay off gambling debts is a fact or a defamation can only be left to the law. It's just that the former table tennis genius, and the aura of countless champions behind him, is dimmed.