Taiwanese TV host and actor Sam Tseng found himself having to leave his show and losing an endorsement deal after a comment he made regarding the fallen TV personality, Mickey Huang.
The host sparked outrage earlier following an interview prior to recording his show, “A Wonderful Word”, when he was asked about the rumour that Mickey, who was recently indicted for possession of child pornography, might want to return to showbiz.
“This individual has many achievements in the past. It is a bit too harsh to regard him as an unforgivable evil. He has a certain audience of men, women, young and old. I was looking forward to his return last year, but now there is another thing that is a bit troublesome. He really works hard,” he responded.
The comments had since been slammed by netizens for being sympathetic to Mickey despite the nature of his crime, and had since caused Sam to lose his endorsement deal with nutritional supplementation brand, Fang Zih.
Following the backlash, Sam took to social media to express his apology, saying that his negligence has caused trouble for his show and partners.
“Once again I apologise to the public. As the host of ‘A Wonderful Word’, I always take ‘transmitting knowledge and promote the beauty of language’ as my mission, hoping to bring more inspiration and fun to the audience through the programme. However, in this case I recognise that, regardless of past efforts, public figures should be more socially responsible and I should be more cautious,” he said.
Sam continued, “In order to prevent this from affecting the original intention and value of [the show], I have decided to officially resign as host, so that the programme has the opportunity to move forward with a new look. I believe that as a highly cultural programme, it deserves to be continued, and I look forward to this stage still having its influence in the future.”
(Photo Source: Taipei Times, IMDb)