Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li was in for a bit of a shock during a company event earlier today after a man stormed the stage and dumped an entire bottle of water on him.
The incident took place in Beijing this morning just as Li was discussing the Chinese search engine giant’s self-driving cars during a live speech on AI. In response to the drenching, the flabbergasted tech billionaire asked in English, “What's your problem?”
Screengrabs via Tencent Video
The man then left the stage and was promptly tackled by security.
Watch a video of the incident below (VPN off):
Shortly after the video went viral, Chinese social media users tracked down the Weibo account of the alleged culprit, Cheng Guanqi. Several posts on his page indicated it was pre-planned, with Cheng apparently traveling all the way from Shanxi province to crash the event. All of those posts appear to have been deleted, but screenshots with timestamps and geotags have since been circulating online.
On the morning of July 2, Cheng allegedly posted: “My wife dropped me off at the bus stop. She has no idea what I’m going to do.”
Image via @剧二代/Weibo
After arriving in Beijing this morning, Cheng then supposedly posted a picture of a Baidu robot, along with the caption “Xiaodu Xiaodu, what will happen if I pour water over your boss Robin Li’s head?”
Image via Sohu
The final photo, published just moments before the soaking took place, was a picture of a C’estbon water bottle. “I’m ready to go up,” read the caption.
Image via Sohu
A motive behind the man’s actions has yet to be established, according to the South China Morning Post. Baidu is currently investigating the incident.
[Cover image via Sohu]
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