Wu dishes dirt on 'Kings' and injury is no hurdle to Liu

The "Four Heavenly Kings" (pictured below) who ruled Canto-pop in the 1990s are back in the news after comedienne Sandra Wu interviewed one of the four, Andy Lau, on a Hong Kong TV program.

Wu let slip he was the only one of the four not to have slept with an unnamed actress. Sleeping with multiple celebrities, known as "stamp collecting", is one of her pet subjects but she's in hot water this time because reporters have been hounding her for the woman's identity.

The gossip is particularly inflammatory because it suggests Jacky Cheung, who is married, had been unfaithful. The other two "kings" are Leon Lai and Aaron Wok.

Netizens, on the other hand, have accused Wu on jfdaily.com of deliberately letting Lau off the hook and changing the identity of the "missing stamp" in order to suck up to him. The same site says she is now backtracking on her allegation, claiming: "I was joking, there is no stamp-collecting actress."

The only thing sexier than stamp collecting is money. The Chinese version of Forbes has released its rankings for the country's top celebrity earners, last year. Baller Yao Ming netted an oversized 358 million yuan ($52.4 million), Liu Xiang (pictured) earned 130 million yuan despite failing to cross the Olympic finishing line, and pianist Lang Lang played his way to 91 million yuan. Actresses were next, Zhang Ziyi on 80 million, followed by Gong Li, then diving queen Guo Jingjing, and actor Jet Li. Xiaopin (comic skit) master Zhao Benshan was 17th, actor Ge You was 18th, while director Zhang Yimou seems good value in 34th place.

Not to be outdone by Mel Gibson's amusing take on Colonel Sanders and the genesis of his finger-lickin' empire (see YouTube), Hong Kong's Anthony Wong has joined Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney, among others, in condemning Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The star of Infernal Affairs has called on CEO David Novak of Yum! Brands, parent company of KFC, to stop abusing our feathered friends. He claims farmers break beaks to prevent fighting and says the birds are doped - not to get an unfair advantage in sporting competition, but to increase their weight to such a degree their legs cannot support their weight.

Although this latter allegation is also true of up to a third of Australians (consistently the planet's fattest people), Wong focuses on animal cruelty and condemns the way KFC chickens meet their maker. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) alleges birds' throats are slit and they are thrown, still conscious, into vats of scalding water.

Further, Wong theorizes that "chickens are curious" and pass on "cultural knowledge from generation to generation". Yes, it is a cruel world and while PETA might make it better, I think it would have also helped if Wong had mentioned that KFC meal portions are insufficient and over priced.

Pass the bucket.