Ke Zhendong Photo: Chinanews.com

Tang Wei (left) and Wu Xiubo (right) star in the film Finding Mr Right. Photo: CFP

The news that two Chinese entertainers, Wu Xiubo and Ke Zhendong, were attempting comebacks landed on the trending list on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Thursday, with many netizens voicing their opposition.

Actor Wu found himself at the center of a scandal at the end of 2018 when Chinese actress Chen Yulin claimed that he was having an affair with her. The scandal deepened when the actress's parents revealed their daughter had been arrested for blackmail. The films and TV programs Wu was working on were badly impacted by the scandal, with some being canceled or editing him out of scenes. 

After disappearing from the public sight for a year, he showed up in video message on Wednesday wishing the best to arts students preparing to take the national college entrance exam. Entertainment blogs called Wu pathetic for trying to making money by sending videos to art training centers while a majority of netizens said they felt that entertainers with notorious reputations should not make a comeback.

"There are many excellent 'uncle" [as Wu was nicknamed before] actors in China, such as Wu Gang, Chen Daoming and Zhang Hanyu. We are really not in desperate need of Wu Xiubo," Sina Weibo user Yushuli posted.

The internet also turned its ire to actor Ke Zhendong, who attended a media event for a fantasy drama series in which he has a role on Tuesday, a sign that the 28-year-old actor seeks to return to the limelight. The hashtag "Ke Zhendong comeback," which also contained an angry face emoji, has earned more than 650 million views and been reposted 132,000 times on Sina Weibo as of Thursday. 

Ke was arrested for using drugs in 2014 in Beijing. Since then, he has had few opportunities to play any roles and has tried to make a comeback several times without success. This time, many netizens said they felt it was impossible for such a "stained" entertainer to make a comeback and made poked fun at the fantasy drama's director, wondering if he couldn't find anybody else for the role. 

"Never forgive entertainers who take drugs! Think about how many police have died while carrying out drug enforcement," a netizen called Kindhearted devil girl commented.