Chinese New Year show 2020. CCTV boasts that it was watched by 23% of the population. That 2020 installment featured Jackie Chan singing “Does it look like my country is sick?” 问我国家哪像染病
It was a planned reply to rumours of SARS-like disease plaguing the city of Wuhan. This program was recorded in January 2020 when any news about an atypical type of pneumonia in Wuhan would have been labelled fake news by the authorities.
In barking on orders, Jackie Chan had indirectly contributed to the initial public denial and complacency which led to a global pandemic. The saddest part is, this pandemic could have been controlled if it was acknowledged in the beginning and a timely lockdown imposed even before Dr Li Wenliang voiced his concerns.
Initially, netizens flamed Jackie Chan’s contribution to the denial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this was quickly forgotten when the authorities tried to change the narrative and denied the origin of the virus.