The husband of former Malaysian DJ, Cheryl Lee has since apologised on her behalf for her remark about Lee Zii Jia’s winning “shush” posture, where she asked if the gesture was pre-planned.
The man, Zhou Ruo Peng said that his wife is a fan of Zii Jia and has always been public with her support for the badminton player.
“Back in 2021, Cheryl wished Zii Jia luck for the medal. Why would she criticise him?” Zhou asked.
Zhou, who recently also remarked about Lakshya Sen’s (Zii Jia’s opponent) injury in the Paris Olympics clarified the ongoing matter by providing lengthy contexts on his Facebook post of what Cheryl’s remark means, as well as his.
Zhou’s comment
In an Instagram story that has since expired, Zhou commented on Lakshya’s injury that was being bandaged.
“My wife fell down when she was playing badminton last week. She got up before I even noticed she was injured. As for you, how long are you going to take to wrap the bandage?”
According to Zhou, here’s what he meant.
“I have occasionally read stories in the tennis world that some players would use the excuse of going to the toilet and not return for a long time, disrupting the opponent’s rhythm. It is important for athletes to be in the flow.”
Zhou explained that he was concerned that Lakshya would disrupt Zii Jia’s flow in the match.
“Looking back now, it was a bit petty, but the match was intense! I was just hoping for Malaysia’s win.”
The context for Cheryl’s remark
Zhou also took the opportunity to explain the context behind his wife’s remark about Zii Jia’s “shush” pose. In the post, Zhou likened our Malaysian athletes to local writers who have no agents to help them which explains why they (athletes and writers) are usually very busy.
“For example, local writers are not like American writers who have agents to arrange publishing and marketing for them. Their sole focus is creation. Local writers, on the other hand, have to take care for many things and are very busy.”
“They don’thave agents, and there is no system to pave the way for them. They have to imagine their own image in front of the camera. They don’t have public relations consultants, so they have to do it all by themselves, which explains why they’re busy.”
Zhou ended the explanation by saying, “I regret to see how some people perceive it as criticism.”
In a nutshell, Zhou and his wife believe that the local athletes are going through the same fate as local writers – no PR team to help them, and they have to do everything by themselves. Hence his wife’s comment about Zii Jia’s “pre-planned” pose that kept him “busy”.
Zhou said his wife had advised him not to say more because she feared for the overwhelming emotions. Zhou, however, trusts his readers and apologised once again for the matter.
The explanation did not sit well with social media users
Social media users, on the other hand, believed that the more Zhou tried to explain, the more confusing the storyline got.
“The more you explain, the darker it gets.”
“You’re a husband and a PR at the same time, you’re quite busy it seems.”
“If she frequently watched Zii Jia’s match, she would’ve understood the gesture. The more you explain, the more confusing it gets.”
“The more you try to help, the busier you both get.”
Now that Zhou has explained the context, what do you think of this?
