China’s biggest female rapper will not be appearing at a large-scale hip-hop music festival in Hong Kong, despite having earlier suggested she would be on the line-up. Vava’s absence from the bill for the debut Rolling Loud event in the city comes after she expressed support for the city’s embattled police force amid the ongoing anti-government protests. On July 8, Vava – known as the Rihanna of China – posted a promotional video for the Rolling Loud festival on her Instagram page, with the caption “Rolling Loud in Hong Kong, October 19-20 see ya”. That led to speculation she would be performing at the event at the West Kowloon Art Park. Then, on August 14, Vava shared a pro-police meme created by Chinese Communist Party media outlet People’s Daily . It reads, “I support Hong Kong police, you can hit me now” in Chinese characters, with the English phrase, “What a shame for Hong Kong” written below it. “Hong Kong is part of China forever,” Vava wrote in her post. View this post on Instagram Rolling Loud in Hong Kong , October 19-20 see ya A post shared by Vava (@vava.mis) on Jul 8, 2019 at 3:43am PDT View this post on Instagram Hong Kong is part of China forever A post shared by Vava (@vava.mis) on Aug 13, 2019 at 11:06am PDT On Wednesday Vava’s name was nowhere to be seen when event organisers released the long-awaited line-up for the Rolling Loud festival. It is headed by A-list American hip-hop artists, including Migos, Wiz Khalifa, Playboi Carti, Ski Mask the Slump God, and Smokepurpp. China’s burgeoning hip-hop scene is represented by rappers Young13DBaby, Xigga and Jinx, among others. A spokeswoman for Live Nation Electronic Asia, the organiser of Rolling Loud Hong Kong, would not comment on whether Vava had been removed from the line-up, telling the Post only: “We never announced that Vava is coming on our [Rolling Loud Hong Kong] official [media] platforms.” Vava rose to fame as a contestant on the hugely popular Chinese hip-hop reality TV show The Rap of China . She secured high-profile advertising deals and became a fashion icon, as well as the face of Chinese hip hop across the country. The 23-year-old rapper from Sichuan province broke through internationally by contributing the track My New Swag to the soundtrack of the film Crazy Rich Asians . “Chinese hip hop comes from rebellion in young people’s lives,” Vava said during an interview with Esquire Singapore . “I realised all my rapper friends went through a period of insurgency and that’s when they started rapping. The generation before us were rockers, but today we use rap to express ourselves.” Apart from Vava, several other influential Chinese hip-hop artists have spoken out against the Hong Kong protests, including Higher Brothers – arguably China’s biggest international hip-hop exports to date – PG One and CD Rev. Rolling Loud launched in Miami, Florida, in 2014 and is now regarded as the largest hip-hop festival in the world. The October event will mark the first time the festival is being staged in Hong Kong.