With no immediate resolution in sight to the royalties dispute between TVB and the big 4 record companies, Jacky Cheung has been bravely speaking out against TVB and has taken the lead in accepting interviews with ATV in Cantonese. On the day of his press conference [for his album], TVB also did not send any reporters or crew to interview him, causing there to be speculation that perhaps both sides (Jacky and TVB) are not on good terms.
Two days ago, Jacky attended the premiere of the Shaw Brothers movie [[72 Tenants of Prosperity]] as the “male lead”. At the event, with the help of good friend Eric Tsang as ‘go-between’, he finally ‘broke’ TVB’s boycott by simultaneously accepting an interview with both TVB and i-Cable; no wonder even Jacky himself exclaimed: “Wow! This is definitely a defining moment!”
Shaw Brothers Chinese New Year gala film [[72 Tenants of Prosperity]] held its premiere day before yesterday. Most of the TVB artists who participated in the film (over 100 total) were in attendance to support the premiere, leading producer Eric Tsang to give them a huge 90 degree bow in appreciation. In a further show of appreciation, Eric told the artists: “Endless thanks!”. He also indicated jokingly that since Jacky is his good friend, he can “take advantage” and “use” him to promote the film.
During the event, Eric indicated that he is “absolutely sure” that TVB will send a crew to interview Jacky. Laughing, he said: “In fact, TVB will also do a [[Jacky World]] special and broadcast his songs.” Moments later, holding a microphone with the logo for TVB’s entertainment show [[Scoop]] on the front, Eric went over to interview Jacky, pulling host and reporter Lai Tze Shan with him. Playfully, Eric asked Jacky: “When was the last time TVB interviewed you?” Jacky responded (also playfully): “Well, let me see, I need to count back…hey, am I allowed to sing now?” Then, Jacky breaks out in song, singing the first line to a popular Chinese New Year tune in Mandarin. Eric then follows with: “See, Jacky opened his ‘golden mouth’ to sing…I told you that everything would be okay!”
As Lai Tze Shan finished her interview and was about to step away, i-Cable’s host Wei Tze Ho quickly approached; Eric then immediately told Tze Shan to stay and continue the interview, causing Jacky to be interviewed simultaneously in Cantonese by both TVB and i-Cable. Even Jacky himself exclaimed: “Wow! This is definitely a defining moment!” A reporter then asked if this interview will be broadcast in its entirety? I-Cable’s host quickly handed the microphone over to Eric, who jokingly pushed it away and said: “Go away! The big stations have the big stations’ way of doing things and big famous people have big famous people’s way of doing things!” Jacky expressed that to be able to interview with both stations using Cantonese, there’s a feeling of cooperation and camaraderie. As for Eric, he expressed that he hopes the new year (year of the tiger) will bring with it a ‘good atmosphere’.
Afterwards, Jacky laughed and stated that only Eric has the ability to arrange for both TVB and i-Cable to simultaneously interview him; he states: “All of a sudden I feel that there are no more barriers, not sure if I am dreaming. I’ve been in this industry so many years, yet this is the first time that I’ve experienced this type of situation; it’s very exciting.” Regarding his earlier comments about supporting a “combined” music award ceremony causing friction among the stations (with Metro Radio accusing RTHK of ‘pretending to be the big boss’), Jacky responded: “I’ve reflected on it….it’s my fault…there are definitely obstacles to the 4 stations holding a ‘combined’ award ceremony. Perhaps the music industry can look into this further and come up with an award ceremony that has mutually agreed upon standards.”
Eric Tsang indicated that he is not afraid that him being the ‘go-between’ will cause him to be reprimanded by TVB: “As long as it makes the audiences happy, I will do it. To be honest, both parties are actually fine – there are no problems there….rumors flying left and right is the problem. It’s only a royalties dispute between the companies – the artists themselves are not a problem….though there could be a possibility of ‘separating’ the interviews at the time of broadcast (referring to the simultaneous interview with Jacky).”
TVB top management Virginia Lok expressed that she welcomes all media to come show their support for Shaw Brothers films – in fact, they especially invited i-Cable to the premiere. With regard to whether TVB will air Jacky’s interview, Ms. Lok replied: “Why wouldn’t we? He’s the ‘heart and soul’ of this film…however I don’t know how much of it will air – we’ll find out at that time.” So at other events, will this situation not be allowed then? Ms Lok replied: “All media outlets are invited to movie premieres; movies and television are different…in terms of television-related events, we can talk about that later."
