Hong Kong and Taiwan celebrities who openly support the Occupy Central movement are facing condemnation from China's State media and boycotts in the blogosphere. Experts and industry insiders say that given China's political environment, celebrities have to take caution when expressing their political views to avoid risking their careers.

This year has been unlucky for film producer Xi Jianhong. The head of Huaren Hongcheng Film Production Company said that his is among the show business companies that have been hardest hit by the recent crackdown on tainted or problematic celebrities. "We're one of the victims," he told the Global Times.

Xi said that earlier this year his company was planning a film entitled The Graduate. Giddens Ko was set to direct, with Kai Ko as the movie's leading man. The two Taiwanese filmmakers' 2011 work, You Are the Apple of My Eye, was a critical and commercial success, making them two of the most sought-after entertainers in China.

But the two Ko's flourishing careers might have been forever altered by two major scandals earlier this year. Kai Ko was arrested on drug charges this August with Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie Chan, amid a crackdown on artists and entertainers who use drugs and frequent prostitutes. At a recent forum, officials from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), China's media watchdog, said these tainted artists will be banned from television and film screens.

The controversy surrounding writer and director Giddens Ko were of another sort. Ko openly supports Taiwan's Sunflower Student Movement, an anti-reunification movement which protested against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement with the Chinese mainland this March and April. This month, he expressed his support for Hong Kong's Occupy Central Movement on his Sina Weibo. His vocal political views have been blasted by mainland netizens, with many calling him a separatist.