Joey Yung Photo: Snapshot of Sina Weibo

Chinese fans expressed outrage at singer Joey Yung from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after she posted a video that was suspected to be mocking four patriotic people in Hong Kong who contracted COVID-19 while attending a gala celebrating the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China. 

According to reports, Yung posted on Instagram on Sunday a video of Hong Kong residents celebrating the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China with the words "Everybody one two three four" superimposed over them. During this celebration, four of the residents in attendance were unfortunately infected with the novel coronavirus, leading netizens to suspect that Yung's post was mocking people for celebrating the city's return to China. 

The post has sparked Chinese netizens' anger on social media. The singer's Chinese fans have vowed to boycott the controversial star, citing "national interest prevails over all."

The hashtag for the controversy has earned 1.04 billion views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Monday. 

The singer later deleted the post and explained on her Sina Weibo and Instagram accounts that the controversy is due to a "misunderstanding." She noted that the video shows the people in attendance singing one of her songs and that the numbers were meant to represent someone establishing a beat before the song. 

However, Chinese netizens did not accept the explanation, pointing out that this is not the first time that the singer has posted controversial content. 

According to reports, after traveling from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland, Yung once posted on Sina Weibo a message saying that she had come to "China" instead of the Chinese mainland.  She has also publicly told media that she "supports strikes and hunger strikes by student protestors".