Yu Jae-seok’s Chinese fan club on Weibo is discontinued

Entertainer Yu Jae-seok [ILGAN SPORTS]

Popular entertainer Yu Jae-seok’s Chinese fan club Yooniverse announced Monday evening that it will no longer operate a fan club for Yu on its Weibo channel.

“After much consideration, it was decided to discontinue the operation of the fan club. It’s time to say our last goodbyes,” said the operator of the channel on Weibo. “Those who will be most sad at this moment are probably the fans. No words can comfort them and there’s no need to deny all the joys of the past.”

Although the operator of the fan club did not detail the reason for terminating its operation, it is rumored that Yu’s reputation among Chinese people began to deteriorate after he expressed anger regarding alleged biased refereeing during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.

During MBC’s “Hang out with Yoo,” which aired on Feb. 19, Yu and other hosts were talking about the Olympic Games and a race between Korea’s short-track speed skater Hwang Dae-heon and a Chinese skater during a 1,000-meter semi-final race, where Hwang, who came in first, later got disqualified for an infraction while the Chinese skater who appeared to have pushed Hwang during the race was not penalized and made it to the next round. During their conversation, Yu said how it made it “so angry.”

Because of cultural disputes and accusations of biased refereeing, hostility between Korean and Chinese netizens has reached an all-time high since the Olympics in Beijing. Upon witnessing Yu expressing anger, Chinese netizens have criticized him saying “stop blaming China.”

Yu is one of the most influential entertainers in Korea. Since his debut in 1991, he’s won 16 grand prizes at year-end entertainment awards from Korea’s three major broadcasters.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]