Taiwanese veteran television host Jacky Wu wrote a 1000-word Facebook post to explain that he had never intended to make a personal attack towards local songstress Stefanie Sun when she made her debut as a singer in Taiwan back in the early 2000s.
The 52-year-old recently became the target of netizens after they brought to light an excerpt in one of the memoirs of the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew titled “My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore’s Bilingual Journey”, where he recounted Stefanie’s determination in improving her standard of the Chinese language after Jacky had called her “dumb” when she was a guest on his variety show.
Many of Stefanie’s fans lashed out at Jacky online for not looking out for a newbie in the industry and reprimanded him for leaving a blemish in the bilateral relations of both countries.
However, Jacky quickly reviewed the old footages where he allegedly mocked the Singaporean singer and clarified that his words had meant “Why are all newbies in the industry so dumb?” and was not specifically targeted at Stefanie.
Also, Jacky claimed that it was purely used to raise the entertainment value of the show and should not be interpreted as criticising Stefanie for having a poor command of the Chinese language.
The 52-year-old added that though he had poked fun of many celebrities on his shows, his actions were to help create a lasting impression of the celebrities in the audiences’ minds. He lamented, “At the end of the day, the listeners always interpret the message of the speaker the way they want to, even if the latter had no ulterior motive. I’ll just take it as an occupational hazard.”
On the other hand, Jacky showed his support for Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s bilingualism policy. The 52-year-old recounted the days when he had met with a rough patch in his career but was fortunate to have regained his fame in Taiwan as his songs were popular amongst Singaporeans and Southeast Asians.