Porn investigation next for Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei photographs himself in the nude, with only a small horse covering his middle.
With a massive tax evasion case that he flatly denies partly behind him, Chinese artist and vocal government critic Ai Weiwei said the police now are investigating him on porn charges.
In an interview with AFP, Ai said one of his employees was summoned by police and questioned over racy photographs Ai had taken and posed for in the nude and with others in the nude. The famed artist has photographed and posed with men, women and stuffed mythical llama-like creatures in the buff over the years, with most of the photos widely circulated online already. But it now seems that since he's paid more than half his $2.4 million tax bill through volunteer donations, the cops are looking for a new case against Ai. He was held in secret detention without charge for nearly three months this spring amid China's ongoing crackdown on dissent, before the tax evasion charges emerged.
"When they detained me, they said 'this is pornography', but I just laughed, I said, 'do you know what is pornography'?" Ai told AFP. "Nudity is not pornography."
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!