Chinese heartthrob Deng Lun’s career in limbo after top brands sever partnerships following US$16.7 million tax evasion fine

Global and Chinese brands cancelled their partnerships with Chinese idol Deng Lun, the star of Netflix’s Ashes of Love, after he was fined 106 million yuan (US$16.7 million) for tax evasion on Tuesday.

Deng, 29, became the latest in a string of Chinese celebrities whose careers have been derailed after hefty tax evasion fines.

A series of corporations, including Unilever and L’Oreal, said they had ended their partnership with Deng after the fine announcement on Tuesday. Mainland companies like home appliance maker Viomi and the dairy brand Junlebao also cancelled their deals with him.

Deng is also Bulgari’s China ambassador, and the brand has yet to announce any decision about their working relationship.

Deng’s social media presence was scrubbed from Weibo and Douyin, two of China’s most influential online platforms, where he had 40 million and 20 million followers, respectively.

The Shanghai Municipal Tax Service said Deng had attempted to hide his personal income by creating fictitious business deals between 2019 and 2020. The 106-million-yuan fine included unpaid taxes, late fees and a criminal penalty.

The tax authority said it warned Deng last year amid a national clampdown on poor celebrity behaviour, which included tax evasion, but the star failed to take heed of the advice and pay the outstanding money owed.

Before his account was banned, Deng issued an apology on Weibo on Tuesday afternoon and said he was “fully aware” that his actions were wrong.

“I accept all the decisions made by the tax authority and am willing to bear all consequences. I will keep working hard as I did in the past,” he wrote in a post.

Deng made his acting debut in the hit romance drama Flowers in Fog in 2013. He appeared in a number of successful series several years later, including White Deer Plain in 2017 and Because of Meeting You in 2018.

His role as Xufeng in Ashes of Love, a popular fantasy-romance drama, skyrocketed him into superstardom. In 2020, he appeared on six different shows.

Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said in a commentary on Tuesday night that the latest punishment for Deng was “an achievement of tax compliance regulation in the culture and entertainment sector” and “a strong warning” to everyone in the industry.

“Recently, several influential stars and internet celebrities have been severely punished for tax evasion, sending a clear signal that the law must be obeyed and enforced,” it read.

In December 2021, one of China’s most successful live-streaming hosts, Viya, was fined 1.34 billion yuan (US$211 million) for tax evasion.

In August 2021, actress Zheng Shuang was fined 299 million yuan (US$47 million), and, a few months later, her ex-lover and former agent, Zhang Heng, was also fined 32 million yuan (US$5 million) for being her accomplice.