Malaysian rapper and filmmaker Namewee has been detained in connection with the murder of a Taiwanese social media influencer.
Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, surrendered to police on Wednesday and will be placed under remand for six days, his lawyer Joshua Tay said.
Nurse turned model Iris Hsieh, who had more than half a million followers on Instagram and also operated an OnlyFans account, was found dead in a hotel bathtub in Kuala Lumpur on 22 October.
According to local media reports, police said Wee was the last person seen with her before her death.
The 31-year-old, whose real name was Hsieh Yu-hsin, was known as Nurse Goddess by her fans.
Police said she arrived in Malaysia on 20 October for a four-day trip.
Officers are waiting for the full post-mortem and toxicology reports before releasing the official cause of her death, local media reported.
Namewee was briefly detained at the time and separately charged for drug possession and use – allegations he denied.
He said he was deeply saddened by Hsieh’s death and denied any wrongdoing.
In an Instagram post after surrendering to police, the 42-year-old vowed to co-operate with the investigation.
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Controversial artist Namewee is known for his satirical lyrics and videos on topics including politics, race and religion.
In 2016, he was arrested over his music video Oh My God following complaints it was disrespectful to Islam.
He released a track with Australian singer Kimberley Chen in 2021 that poked fun at Chinese nationalists and touched on sensitive topics, such as Taiwan’s sovereignty. The pair were banned from entering China and the song was removed from all Chinese platforms.
