Crazy English founder Li Yang is allegedly beating one of his daughters, claimed Kim Lee, his American ex-wife whom he abused a decade ago. Since their divorce, Lee took custody of their three daughters, Li Li, Li Na and Li Hua.
Crazy English is an unorthodox language learning programme that emphasises oral learning, particularly by shouting. It has been very popular in China and has attracted about 20 million followers.
"Ten years ago, Li Hua rescued me from your violence. This year, Li Na had to rescue Li Hua from your violence. You have not changed a bit,” Lee wrote on Weibo on Sunday night, with an accompanying video clip.
The video, which only shows a dark screen, with a man’s voice screaming in English: “What happened? Sit down!”. Then a woman’s voice screamed back, “What are you doing? Why do you want to kill me?”
Lee said on Weibo that when Li beat her, he said it was Chinese culture, so she divorced him. She forgave him for the abuse as he was the father of their three children, and even gave him her blessing when he remarried and had another child.
"But you brutally beat our daughter, you and your Crazy English members threatened them to not tell their mother, not tell anyone … how could you do that?”, she wrote. “I hope everyone from Crazy English can understand that China has an anti-domestic violence law. You are worshipping a criminal.”