Taiwan's capital city election is heating up, and a celebrity's quiet show of support has turned into a cross-strait flashpoint — bad for entertainers who work in both markets.

• Talk-show host Tsai Kang-yung sat in the crowd at DPP candidate Puma Shen's campaign launch, wearing a hat and mask, and was spotted anyway.
• Chinese internet users swarmed him, called him a backer of Taiwan independence, and pushed to boycott his work and brand deals on the mainland.
• Mayor Chiang Wan-an, his rival's party colleague, defended him and told Beijing to respect Taiwan's free and democratic way of life.
• Chiang also invited Tsai to his own campaign launch, offering him a front-row seat.
• The race is also stuck on a drug-policy fight: the KMT dug up Shen's old writing on supplying clean needles, and Chiang's attack post drew hundreds of thousands of hostile comments after it emerged he once backed methadone treatment himself.

Outlook: With 54 days to the vote, expect more cross-strait pressure on Taiwanese celebrities and a drug-policy fight that now reaches into the New Taipei and Kaohsiung races.