Face masks have become compulsory in many countries in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, with dire consequences if one does not wear them. However, Chinese actor Xu Kai came under fire for wearing a mask — as a headband, in a selfie. The 25-year-old actor, who became famous after acting in the drama Story of Yanxi Palace and has over 15 million followers on Weibo, was slammed by netizens, reported 8days.sg on March 5.
On March 1, he posted this message: “It’s pretty useful as a headband, it’s just that my earlobes hurt.” The accompanying photos showed him pushing his fringe back with a black mask.
After he posted the message, netizens slammed Xu Kai for wasting masks during the pandemic, with one writing, “Masks are used as part of pandemic prevention, not as your fashion accessory. Your young and impressionable fans might feel that this is a cool thing to do and wear their masks like this from now on. Will you be responsible if they’re infected [with Covid-19]?”
Some netizens also pointed out that many people around the world do not have access to or cannot afford masks, and asked the actor to donate masks to them instead of using them this way.
Almost a day later, the actor wrote in the comments, “I lost my hairband. The mask I used [as a replacement] was the one that I wore for the entire day while working. I’m sorry for (…) not explaining myself properly.”
But his clarification did nothing to appease netizens. In fact, it annoyed even more with one netizen writing that the actor is “even dumber than we could have imagined”.
Another netizen wrote: “Masks are there to stop dirt, bacteria and viruses from getting into our body. They don’t bounce off your mask, so you’re effectively shoving all of them into your hair when you do this. This is so unsanitary.”
Another quipped: “I think you would have been better off not explaining yourself. You’re not only making a fool of yourself, but also mocking the millions of people around the world who wear masks and dispose of them promptly after use.”/TISG