Kenji Wu Slammed For Calling His Fans A Derogatory Term For Women On International Women’s Day

Taiwanese singer Kenji Wu should definitely have thought long and hard before trying to be punny on International Women’s Day.

On Tuesday (Mar 8, or 3/8), the 42-year-old took to a private chat room for fans and wrote, “38 people, happy holiday”, clearly making a play on the numbers of the date.

There’s a problem, though: In Mandarin, 3-8 is pronounced “san ba” and is used as a derogatory term to describe women who enjoy gossip, so you can probably expect the kind of response he got after that.

It certainly wasn’t the best term to use on International Women’s Day

Even after someone in the group replied “38 people??” in bewilderment, Kenji continued to joke around, calling his fans “san ba girls” and “san ba goddesses”.

Before long, screengrabs of the star’s messages were blasted all over social media, earning him loads of backlash from Weibo users.

Comments slamming Kenji include: “There can’t be anyone who would possibly find this funny”, “Disgusting”, “If you don’t know what to say, just shut up”, “Is there something wrong with you?”, “Apologise, you’re crazy”, and “Why does he still have fans? As a public figure, he should speak and act cautiously”.

Yup, definitely should have been more careful

However, Kenji’s supporters came to his defence by clarifying that his words were taken out of context and posted the rest of the conversation to exonerate him.

It’s certainly a lot less damning as he explains that while “38” is typically meant as an insult, it’s simply an “intimate joke” when used among “good friends”, and that to him, it represents those who are “cute, playful, and dare to love”.

There were also some netizens who didn’t see the issue with the whole thing, pointing out that if Kenji’s own fans don’t mind, then others shouldn’t have an opinion.

Still, speaking and acting cautiously sound like a good idea

Photos: Kenji Wu/Weibo, 柠也吃瓜吗/Weibo