UPDATED 10/22, 11:00 a.m. ET: A video call between Peng Shuai and Olympic officials was released in an attempt to assure the public that she’s OK, NBC News reports.
Still, officials remained concerned about the tennis star’s safety. “It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don’t alleviate or address the WTA’s concern about her wellbeing and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion,” a WTA spokesperson told NBC News.
Per an IOC official, Peng said that she is “safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time.”
See original story below.
Chinese state media figures have published photos and videos of Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old tennis star who seemingly went missing after accusing a political leader of sexual assault.
As pointed out by ESPN, state TV employee Shen Shiwei shared a series of pictures purportedly showing Peng hanging out in a room surrounded by stuffed animals. The photos were allegedly posted on the Chinese social media app WeChat, along with the message: “Happy weekend.”
“Peng Shuai’s WeChat moments just posted three latest photos and said ‘Happy weekend’. Her friend shared the three photos and the screenshot of Peng’s WeChat moments,” Shen explained in a tweet.
He also shared a video and a photo of Shuai at a dinner with her friends.
Hu Xijin, the editor of the English-language newspaper Global Times, responded to Shen’s initial post by claiming he had received confirmation that the WeChat photos of Peng were recent.
“I confirmed through my own sources today that these photos are indeed Peng Shuai’s current state,” he wrote. “In the past few days, she stayed in her own home freely and she didn’t want to be disturbed.
After Hu claimed Peng would make a public appearance “soon,” he and Shen posted several videos of the athlete at Sunday’s opening ceremony of a teenage tennis match final in Beijing.
The former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champ had not been seen since Nov. 2, after she took to her verified Weibo account to accuse retired Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sex with him three years ago. She also claimed she had an on-again, off-again relationship with the married senior leader throughout a 10-year period, during which she experienced emotional abuse.
“Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home to force me to have sex with you? Yes, I did not have any evidence, and it was simply impossible to have evidence,” she wrote in the since-deleted posts, per Insider. “I couldn’t describe how disgusted I was, and how many times I asked myself am I still a human? I feel like a walking corpse. Every day I was acting, which person is the real me?”
Members of the international tennis world—including Women’s Tennis Association CEO Steve Simon—expressed concern over Peng’s health and safety as she had not been seen or heard from in the weeks after the post. In an apparent effort to assuage concerns, a government-affiliated media organization shared a statement allegedly written by Pang. However, the letter only cast further doubts, as it called the sexual assault allegations “not true.”
Simon has since responded to the series of videos and photos of Peng out in public, emphasizing they do not indicate she is actually safe.
“I am glad to see the videos released by China state-run media that appear to show Peng Shuai at a restaurant in Beijing,” he wrote in a statement. “While it is positive to see her, it remains unclear if she is free and able to make decisions and take actions on her own, without coercion or external interference. This video alone is insufficient. As I have stated from the beginning, I remain concerned about Peng Shuai’s health and safety and that the allegation of sexual assault is being censored and swept under the rug. I have been clear about what needs to happen and our relationship with China is at a crossroads.”
