Local TV channel CtiTV’s popular show The Largest Political Party (全民最大黨) — known for poking fun at politicians and celebrities — has come under fire from people in both Taiwan and Japan for a recent skit in which actors mocked Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, as well as earthquake survivors in a shelter.
During last Thursday’s episode, two male actors played the roles of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visiting two survivors in a shelter. In part of the skit the emperor dripped wax from a burning candle onto the hands of the empress, while saying that it’s their “usual game.”
The episode of the show was aired a day after the imperial couple visited a shelter for survivors of the massive earthquake and tsunami that took more than 10,000 lives last month.
Photo: Internet screen shot
“How could the show make fun of the imperial family and disaster survivors like this? The Shoe Thief is really the shame of Taiwan,” Facebook user Cool Moon said on her Facebook page.
“The Shoe Thief” is a nickname that some netizens in Taiwan use to refer to the producer of The Largest Political Party, Wang Wei-chung (王偉忠).
He acquired the nickname after a March 18 televised fundraiser for Japanese disaster relief in which he closed bidding on an auction after offering NT$300,000 for an autographed pair of soccer cleats and two jerseys donated by former Japanese soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata.
A similar pair of cleats donated by Nakata last year for -Haitian -disaster relief sold for almost US$1.5 million and netizens accuse Wang of “robbing” Nakata and depriving the public of the chance to bid on the items.
Cool Moon was not the only Taiwanese netizen furious about the skit, as more than 1,000 Facebook members have joined an online campaign asking Wang to apologize within two days.
“It [the show] was once a very entertaining program, but now it has become twisted and ugly, the show should be stopped right away,” netizen Chiang Wen-chun (江文鈞) said on the Facebook page calling for Wang to apologize.
“It’s a stupid thing done by a stupid person,” said another Internet user, Yen Hung-yuan (顏紘遠) .
The show has also upset many Japanese.
“I am thankful for the Taiwanese who donated money to us, but it doesn’t mean that they can do just whatever they want,” one Japanese Internet user said.
A handful of people from a right-wing group also staged a protest outside Taiwan’s representative office in Tokyo. The protest lasted a little over 10 minutes and was peaceful.
After the controversy, CtiTV has removed the video from its Web site, and delivered a written apology to Taiwan’s representative office in Japan to be forwarded to concerned parties.
Wu Hsiu-yang (巫秀陽), a co-producer of The Largest Political Party, said the skit had intended to show the imperial couple’s concern for the people of Japan in a humorous way, and didn’t mean to show any disrespect.
Wu apologized for having made Japanese people feel uncomfortable.
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