Regional Shanghai television channel postpones ‘ridiculous’ show to honour essential workers as city struggles to combat Omicron
- The show had planned to feature appearances by Chinese-language icons like Andy Lau and Wang Yibo
- But people online were outraged by an apparently tone-deaf response to their sacrifices
A prominent Shanghai television channel postponed its plan to air a pre-recorded “special anti-epidemic programme” featuring various Chinese-language celebrities after the idea was blasted as being tone-deaf amid the city’s indefinite lockdown.
It would have featured some of the biggest names in Chinese-language entertainment, including Hong Kong icons Andy Lau and Leon Lai; mainland super idol Wang Yibo; Taiwanese singer Annie Yi and Canto-pop legend Alan Tam.
The reaction to the show, which was announced on Tuesday, was a fierce backlash, with people online expressing frustrations that the show was ignoring the immense sacrifices residents of the city have had to make over the past few weeks.
“This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard this year. Dragon TV invited a group of people – whose yearly salaries would take most people 200 to 1,000 years to earn – to encourage those who have lost their income and have been hungry for weeks to hang on. We are touched!” wrote one user on Weibo.
Large swathes of Shanghai’s population still face food shortages, difficulties accessing medical treatment and many people cannot go to their jobs amid widespread stay-at-home orders.
On Tuesday, the city relaxed its quarantine measures in some of the lower-risk areas, but supplies remain low as most shops remain closed and food apps are oversubscribed.