Hong Kong pop star Joey Yung came under fire after she posted a selfie wearing a face mask on Facebook.
“I never thought that a lyric and a selfie…would attract this storm. I am extremely sorry,” she said.
Joey Yung Cho-yee has apologised for the social media post that some netizens in mainland China said was evidence of her supporting the anti-government protests in the city.
39-year-old Yung deleted the Facebook photo of herself wearing a surgical face mask along with a lyric taken from her song Airport while on a plane.
Yung denies supporting Hong Kong independence, which is the main aim of the anti-government protests, according to mainland state media.
Photo: Screengrab from Instagram
An anti-mask law was passed on Oct 4 and protestors in the city have worn face masks as a symbol of defiance.
“Today I think I should give a clear explanation to everyone. In that day’s post, I only wanted to express how excited I was to be taking off for work … as a public figure, I did not think my own words and actions would cause such a severe impact.
“I love the motherland, I love Hong Kong, I have never supported Hong Kong independence.”
Hunan Television has cut Yung from the list of performers at a star-studded gala concert and the apology might have come too late.
On Tuesday, a scheduled Weibo ‘super-topic’ discussion about Yung to promote her television appearance was unavailable.
Netizens have attacked Yung over her earlier post, calling her to leave the mainland.
Some of them also referred to Yung’s comments about Hong Kong where she seems to have sided with the students behind the 2014 Occupy Central democracy movement.
A day after a Hong Kong protester fell to his death from a shopping centre in a suspected suicided on June 15, Yung wrote about a “sleepless night” on Instagram.
“Which country do you love? Shouldn’t a public figure attach great importance to their words and actions? No wonder these ‘coincidences’ happen to her every time, she must be very unlucky,” read one comment that was liked nearly 10,000 times.
Besides Yung, there are other Hong Kong celebrities who have been caught up in an online uproar over the protests in the city.
Actress Charmaine Sheh Sze-man said sorry for liking and then unliking an Instagram post that supported the Hong Kong protests after the move sparked a row on social media.
The actress is famed in the mainland for her lead role in popular period drama Story of Yanxi Palace and other drama series.
