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Jackie Chan ‘ashamed,’ ‘heartbroken’ by son Jaycee Chan’s drug arrest

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Jackie Chan is “ashamed” and “heartbroken” about his son Jaycee Chan’s arrest in China last Thursday on suspicion of marijuana possession, the action-movie star, singer and martial artist said Wednesday on social media.

Part of the embarrassment: The elder Chan was named an anti-drug ambassador by China in 2009.

“Regarding this issue with my son Jaycee, I feel very angry and very shocked. As a public figure, I’m very ashamed. As a father, I’m heartbroken,” the star of “The Tuxedo” wrote on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent. (translation via the Associated Press.)

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“I have failed to educate my son. I must also take responsibility, and in my son’s name take a deep bow and apologize to the public,” he added (translation via Channel NewsAsia).

Actor-singer-playboy Jaycee Chan, 31, was among at least nine celebrities arrested last week as part of a Chinese crackdown on drug use that has seen about 3,400 people taken into custody in recent months, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday from Beijing.

One way they do it differently in China: On Tuesday, state-run media splashed images of the younger Chan on the TV news, showing him admitting to marijuana possession during a video-recorded police search of his home. Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, a friend who was arrested with Chan, was shown crying and confessing to police, The Times reported. “I’ve set a very bad example,” Ko told police.

Police told the AP that both men tested positive for marijuana use and said more than 100 grams -- over 3 1/2 ounces -- of weed was taken from Jaycee Chan’s home.

While Ko faces a 14-day stint in jail on a charge of drug consumption, Jaycee Chan could be looking at a maximum of three years behind bars if convicted on a charge of accommodating drug users.

“The crackdown is creating a misimpression among the public that drug use is way up, and celebrities are the main group of offenders,” Beijing attorney Wu Liwei told The Times. Wu, who recently represented a reality-TV singing star in a drug case, said he doesn’t believe drug use is on the rise in China, with the exception of meth consumption.

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Still, he said, celebrity arrests can send an educational message to the public.

Jaycee Chan, who was born in Los Angeles but spent most of his childhood in Hong Kong before heading to a private school in California in 1997, reportedly attended but did not graduate from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

“I wanted to be a musician,” he told the New York Times in 2006. “All you can see in Virginia is sheep.”

In 2011, Jackie Chan reportedly disinherited Jaycee, saying half of his then-$130-million fortune would go to charity but that the other half wouldn’t go to his son.

“If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money,” the elder Chan was quoted as saying on an award-show red carpet.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs

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