Kim Jae Joong has come under intense criticism after posting April Fools’ Day Joke on his Instagram that he was tested positive with coronavirus.
Kim Jae Joong wrote on his Instagram and he was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 and apologized to those who might have been infected by him. At first, given the fact that even his agency was not aware of such a situation, it seemed like his account has been hacked. However, later it was revealed that the post was written to celebrate April Fools’ Day.
After the post stirred up the controversy, Kim Jae Joong posted a lengthy apology on his Instagram.“I am also personally aware that it was something that should not have been done. I sincerely apologize to those who are suffering from coronavirus and to those who were disrupted in their administrative works because of my post. Bad judgment. I am aware of it,” he wrote.
Then he added, “The current lack of awareness of coping methods and the dangerousness of the virus outbreak. I wanted to convey the message since I hoped that people would become more aware and therefore minimize the number of people who suffer from coronavirus,” explaining the reason behind his lie.
He continued, “My father has been in the hospital ever since he had a surgery for his lung cancer. I got somewhat angry after watching the medical staff and patients at the hospital and I wanted people to think of the virus as their own problem, not someone else’s.”
However, the public seems to think that Kim Jae Joong’s lie cannot be tolerated. The prevailing opinion is that it is incomprehensible that when more than 160 people died from COVID-19 and the entire country is in alert, he would lie that he was infected with the virus. There is even a public petition asking to punish the singer accordingly.
The Central Disease Control Headquarters is also considering the punishment for Kim Jae Joong. They said, “We are currently trying to figure out the situation regarding Kim Jae Joong. There are standards of punishment for causing confusion by making malicious prank calls to the authorities, but we are discussing internally how to carry out the punishment since this was committed by a celebrity through social media.”
The singer’s careless remarks and actions are also controversial overseas. BBC, New York Times, and Forbes all criticized Kim Jae Joong’s absurd April Fools’ lie. The situation in Japan, where Kim Jae Joong has been active, is even more serious. After his statement turned out to be a lie, Japan’s NHK had to correct all records since they reported Kim Jae Joong’s infection as the breaking news. As the criticism grew even more, NHK’s Furuya Masayuki no Pop☆A canceled the artist appearance, scheduled that night.
Currently, the number of people agreeing to the petition asking for Kim Jae Joong’s punishment for lying surpassed 10,000 as of April 2 morning, just one day after the petition has been published.
