- A Chinese social media influencer who seemed to be living a glamorous life was shown to actually be living in a filthy apartment.
- Lisa Li’s glittering online persona – which won her 1.1 million followers – appeared to inspire her landlord to show the grim conditions in her home.
- Li’s landlord, named by media as Ms Chen, said the apartment was so filthy that professional cleaners had refused to clean it, the BBC reported.
- Li apologized to her landlord on video, before being pictured cleaning the apartment herself.
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A Chinese social media influencer, whose feeds are full of expensive vacations, fine-dining, and designer clothes, apologized after her landlord undercut her online persona with video of her filthy apartment.
Lisa Li, who has more than 1.1 million followers on microblogging platform Weibo, had video of her apartment in Xi’an, China, posted online by her landlord after she failed to return calls about the filth, according to a report from the BBC.
The video, recorded by the landlord (named by Chinese media as Ms Chen) showed moldy food, unwashed dishes, dog excrement, and a filthy cage in the apartment.
Chen said in a video published by news site Pear Video that the apartment was so dirty that even professional cleaners were unwilling to clean it.
She said Li had several unpaid utility bills, with online outlet Sixth Tone saying she owed around 3,000 yuan ($420).
She described Li as being a "beautiful woman" online, but as a "disgusting" person in her personal life.
Rather than issue an apology, Li decided to meet with her landlord on video, and then publish video of herself cleaning the apartment.
In the video published by Pear Video, Lisa Li can be seen meeting with Chen, shaking her hand, and telling her: "Complete responsibility lies with me on this incident."
"I will clean now … I will even clean overnight," she said in an interview with local news site The Paper, according to the BBC.
The video of the incident went viral on Chinese social network Weibo, Sixth Tone reported. A hashtag about the incident trended on Weibo, which can be roughly translated as "female internet celebrity left apartment full of poop when she moved out."
Li blamed her failure to respond to Chen, as well as the state of the apartment, on her tight schedule and having received a large number of messages on WeChat, a popular messaging app in China.
After appearing the Pear video, Li also posted an apology video on her Weibo page.
Her apartment contrasts sharply to the polished persona Li presents to her Weibo followers.
Her profile on the site features numerous pictures of her eating at glamorous restaurants, wearing designer clothes, and staying luxury hotels.