China’s ‘Lipstick King’ tearfully apologizes for bashing frugal viewer
By Bryan Ke
One of China’s most famous livestreamers has apologized for commenting on a netizen’s salary during an online squabble.
How it started: Li Jiaqi, a 31-year-old livestreamer known in China as the “Lipstick King,” got into a spat with one of his viewers during a Sunday livestream while selling an eyebrow pencil from Chinese brand Florasis for 79 yuan (approximately $10.80).
The viewer criticized the eyebrow pencil’s price, which prompted Li to fire back.
“Its price has been the same for so many years. Don’t say such total nonsense,” he said.
“Sometimes look for your own reasons, whether your salary has increased after many years and if you have been working hard enough,” the livestreamer added.
“You’ve forgotten how you climbed up,” another user commented.
State-run television network CCTV also took aim at Li’s online spat, mentioning in a commentary that several Internet celebrities and anchors “were humble before making money, and became very inflated after making money.”
Apologizing twice: China’s “Lipstick King” eventually apologized on Monday for his comment. He first apologized on Weibo, then apologized again during a livestream later in the day.
“No matter at what time, I should not forget where I came from, let alone lose myself,” he said, according to the Global Times. “My very inappropriate remarks let you down. I should not and I am not qualified to casually comment on any netizen from the personnel perspective.”
About Li: The livestreamer received the online moniker “Lipstick King” after beating Alibaba founder Jack Ma in a selling competition, having sold 15,000 tubes of lipstick in just five minutes.
He also made headlines in 2022 when he suddenly vanished from the internet shortly after showing an ice cream cake that resembled a tank on the Tiananmen Square anniversary. He resurfaced three months later without any explanation.
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