We’re seriously starting to wonder: Are people following the Paris Olympics for the sports or are they actually just looking for chances to hate on others?
Recently, Chinese actress Zhou Yutong shared on Weibo that she had watched the men’s gymnastics all-around finals at the Bercy Arena in Paris with her cast mates from Chinese variety show Divas Hit the Road.
Sharing a selfie of herself smiling while holding the Chinese flag, she chirped: “I’ll always be proud of the China team”.
While the 29-year-old probably thought that she was simply showing support for her country, netizens thought otherwise.
Especially after China’s devastating loss to Japan during the men’s artistic team all-around final on Monday (Jul 29).
For those who haven’t been following the games, China was in the lead and was on their way to clinching their first gold medal since 2012, until 24-year-old Olympic Games debutant, Su Weide, lost his grip and fell twice during his horizontal bar routine. The horizontal bar was the final routine of the night for both China and Japan.
Each of his mistakes brought two-point deductions, which eventually resulted in the team’s defeat to Japan, who was three points behind, with a margin of just 0.532 points.
Upon seeing Yutong’s post, netizens chastised the star for lacking empathy and accused her for using the Olympics for clout.
Many also condemned her for looking so happy and trying to promote her variety show when everyone else was grieving over the country’s shock defeat.
To make things worse, one of the pictures she’d shared actually captured Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng looking disappointed after the finals, which further angered netizens.
“It was obviously a moment that was very difficult to watch, but all she did after that was take selfies and say she’s proud [of the team]. Who is she to be proud of them?” snarked one netizen.
As a result of the unintended backlash, Yutong has since removed the post from her socials.
Meanwhile, Yutong’s cast mate Chinese actress Gina Jin Chen, who was also in Paris to watch the finals, similarly ticked netizens off with the pictures she posted that day.
According to reports, Gina initially only shared the selfies she’d taken at the finals but was criticised for only posting pictures of herself instead of focusing on the athletes.
That compelled her to take down the post and include photos of the arena in her new post.