Chinese actor Zhang Mo, son of well-known actor and director Zhang Guoli, was arrested Monday for drug use, prompting his father to apologize to the public yesterday.

At about 10:40 pm Monday, public safety officers received reports of people using drugs in Tian Zhu, a neighborhood in Beijing's Shunyi District. The police arrived on the scene and caught Zhang Mo and another man red-handed.

Several netizens exposed that "the son of a renowned domestic director" was arrested due for taking drugs, saying that the police hadn't mentioned the name of the "son of a celebrity" in its announcement, which stated only that the two suspects were surnamed Zhang and Gong. Later, some netizens further noted that the "renowned domestic director" was Zhang Guoli, and the arrested was Zhang Mo.

On Tuesday night, when Zhang Guoli answered a phone call from a reporter with netease.com, he said that he didn't know what had actually happened. He admitted that he was shocked by the news and could not yet contact his son. He told the reporter he was making efforts to confirm whether the news was true or not and promised he would give the public an explanation when things became clear. The father also begged the media "not to broadcast unverified details as things have not been clarified yet."    

On Wednesday, Zhang Guoli made a statement on the Internet, admitting that his son Zhang Mo was indeed caught smoking marijuana by Beijing police. He expressed that he firmly agreed with the police's actions, saying that resisting drugs is the duty of every citizen.

The father apologized to the public for the son who failed to fulfill his duty as a public figure. As any good father would, the director did not forget to ask the public and the media to treat his son with mercy, and offer him a chance to correct his mistakes.

This is not the first time that this father and entertainment star has had to stand in front of the public to apologize for his "naughty" son, whose parents divorced when he was still very young. As early as 2003, Zhang Mo got a bad name after beating up his girlfriend and schoolmate Tong Yao.

He came under fire again in 2009 for threatening a reporter who asked him questions that displeased him in an interview.

Last year, he got the public's attention once more by driving an expensive car with no license plate when appearing at a press conference. When will the bad boy start to consider the feelings and reputation of his poor father?   

Global Times