2008 EoTY: Scandals

Jinra Ilustrisimo on Thursday, December 18, 2008 12:00PM

Don’t act like you’ve never subjected an hour of your time watching an E! special on top (insert topic here.) You’ve been bored before, don’t lie. Ningin.com is certainly not going lie about this: 2008 experienced a few Asian scandals. Not enough to warrant an E! special, but enough for Ningin.com’s sake. In no particular order, save for the last scandal (the biggest scandal), 2008’s scandals:

Edison Chen-gate

I don’t even know if this is worth recapping — I’m sure you know about it. On the chance that you don’t, basically…if you’ve ever had sex with Edison Chen, your sex pictures are circulating the Internet. And you’re probably out of a job. And he is too. (In the entertainment biz, at least.)

2008 Miss Vietnam Pageant Scandal

What, you’re supposed to be educated to qualify as a beauty pageant contestant? There is no pleasing Miss Vietnam pageant officials in expressing wishes for world peace and for everyone to have a puppy. This year, Tran Thi Thuy Dung was denied the Miss Vietnam crown when it was known that she was a high school drop-out.

Fuji TV’s Kazuhiro Watanabe’s Affair

Kazuhiro Watanabe, announcer for Fuji TV’s Mezamashi program, publicly apologized for an affair with someone that wasn’t his wife. Unusually forgiving, Fuji TV has allowed Watanabe to continue his announcer career.

Fuji TV’s Mona Yamamoto’s Love Hotel Affair

Unfortunately, Fuji TV was not as forgiving in the case of announcer Mona Yamamoto. Women’s magazine Josei Seven reported Yamamoto was seen entering a love hotel with Yomiuri Giants’ Tomohiro Nioka…a married baseball player. Yamamoto has since been removed from Fuji TV in an effort to express her shame.

Malaysian Politician Sex Tape-gate

“I would like to emphasize that I did not make the tape myself. Who has done this and why it was done is obvious. Who made this tape is not important any more,” said Chua Soi Lek, Malaysian health minister. We’ve heard that before. We need more details beyond you being a married Malaysian government official caught in a sex tape with a “friend”!

The Celebrity Extramarital Affair That Challenged Korean Law

Korean actress Ok So Ri charged of an extramarital affair took a stand against Korea’s 55 year old law against adultery as a crime. Ok asked the Korean Constitutional Court to to rule the law as unconstitutional. With a resounding, ‘HALE NOOO!’ they sentenced her to 2 years. No joke, here guys.

::DRUMROLL::

The TOP SCANDAL OF 2008 (in my opinion, at least):

The Chinese Milk Scandal

Traces of melamine in Chinese baby formula have killed 6 infants and sickened 300,000. Melamine was used to cheat quality control tests for protein levels. The scandal has lead to worldwide suspicion and careful scrutiny of Chinese products. My prayers go out to the families and infants affected.

And there you have it.

This blog posting is part of the 5 day 2008 End of the Year event happening Dec. 15-19.

Categories :