Hacken Lee ‘apologizes’ for World Cup comments

Source: Mingpao

Translation: llwy12@ http://asianfanatics.net

Earlier, during the World Cup match between England and Germany, the English team was on the receiving end of a ‘bad call’ by the referee, incorrectly denying them a goal that should have been valid. As a huge soccer and English team fan, Hacken Lee left a message on his Weibo, saying: “If anyone out there is contributing money to beat up the referee, remember to include me.” Afterwards, Hacken received some criticisms about his comments, with people complaining that it ‘promotes violence’.

Yesterday, Hacken accepted an interview with Commercial Radio’s Eileen Cha. During the interview, he re-emphasized that he chose his words very carefully when he wrote that message, plus he specifically used the words “If anyone” [TN: implying that he is not specifically telling people to go beat up the ref.] . At that time, he was purely doing what any devoted soccer fan would do – venting his frustration at the referee’s bad call, except with some sarcasm and humor.

With regard to the criticisms of the comments ‘promoting violence’, Hacken replied: “If people feel that I am sending the wrong message because of this, then I apologize and will be more careful next time. However, I feel at that time, ‘in the heat of the moment’, it was an acceptable way to vent.” As for rumors of some people asking lawyers if these types of comments could be considered a ‘crime’, Hacken responded: “What? That serious? Is it something that one needs to be jailed for?”

There were also rumors that Hacken and his World Cup hosting partner Jan Lamb did not get along. Hearing this, Hacken laughed and stated: “When a program is popular, of course there are going to be all sorts of rumors surrounding it. If you were to ask Jan himself, he would definitely say that we do not get along and tell you to listen to the program to find out more – it’s a chance to promote the program.” Hacken indicated that he and Jan are the same type of people – outside of work, both are quiet and do not like to talk much. He reiterated that the 2 of them are very happy working with each other and are even looking at other opportunities to work together.

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