Chinese film director Zhang Yimou is at the center of a controversy after making comments on celebrities using drugs during an interview backfired.

Zhang, along with other comedians, actors and dancers, spoke in an interview with Xinhua News Agency after news broke on Friday that singer Yin Xiangjie had been arrested again for drug use and possession.

Zhang, whose hit movies include Red Sorghum, House of Flying Daggers and Coming Home, claimed he had seen "a number of actors" smoke marijuana during shooting, and "someone even tried to persuade me to try ecstasy".