Will a scandal affect their chances at clinching the popularity award at Star Awards? Here's what Jeffrey Xu and Shane Pow say

In October last year, local celebrities Jeffrey Xu and Shane Pow were part of a group found to have flouted social distancing measures during the former's birthday party.

Now that the two have been nominated for the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste award for Star Awards 2021, are they concerned that their recent run-in with the law will diminish their chances of winning?

In a recent interview with 8world, 32-year-old Jeffrey said: "Honestly, I'm happy to be nominated. At least I know there are still  people who enjoy my shows and are acknowledging my performance."

After his nomination was announced, Jeffrey also wrote on his Instagram: "I can't guarantee that I will win the prize, but what I can promise you is that in the coming days, I will have better performances, be a better person, and become a good actor."

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CMZOWIrn43Q/[/embed]

As for Shane, 29, he joked that he will vote for himself and will lobby for votes on his social media. He told 8world: "Anyway, it doesn't cost money to post [on Instagram], and I want to let people know that voting is underway."

For the uninitiated, Jeffrey and Shane got in trouble for gathering in a large group post-circuit breaker.

As Singapore was still under Phase 2 regulations then, social gatherings were strictly limited to a group of five people. However, an Instagram Story posted by Jeffrey revealed that the party had way more than five guests.

Other celebrities who were involved in the incident were Terence Cao, Julie Tan, Dawn Yeoh, Jeremy Chan, and Sonia Chew.

Eventually, two people were charged (including Terence) while the others were fined $300 each.

ALSO READ: Jeffrey Xu birthday party: 2 people to be charged, others fined $300

Coincidentally, Terence wasn't a nominee for the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste award but it seems that he just didn't qualify for it.

When AsiaOne asked Mediacorp if the recent court case hurt his chances of being nominated, we were sent a copy of their nomination criteria.

According to the criteria, artistes will be eligible for popularity awards if they have fulfilled either one of the following:

• Have a valid term contract (not a project-based contract) with Mediacorp during the duration of the qualifying period (between Jan 1, 2019 and Dec 30, 2020)
• Gotten a lead role/main host in at least one eligible programme or a supporting role/episodic host in at least 3 eligible programmes or at least 30 episodes out of all eligible programmes during the qualifying period

bryanlim@asiaone.com