Taiwanese veteran TV host Jacky Wu posted a 1,000-word message on Facebook to explain that it was not his intention to call Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun 'dumb' back when she had a guest appearance in Wu's variety show.

Wu was subjected under the criticisms of netizens after an excerpt from memoirs of the late Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew entitled 'My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey' was released. In the excerpt, the prime minister cited Sun's hard work in improving her standard of speaking the Chinese language after Wu allegedly called her 'dumb' when she appeared as a guest on his variety show.

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Due to this, many netizens, mostly the Singaporean singer's fans, attacked and bashed Wu in different social networking platforms, accusing him of not looking out for a newbie in the entertainment industry. Others also pointed out that he 'stained' the bilateral relations between Taiwan and Singapore.

However, as a response to the accusations, Wu immediately reviewed the footages of the variety show where he allegedly mocked Sun. He then cleared the issue, explaining that during the show he said, "Why are all newbies in the industry so dumb?" adding that he did not target Sun in particular.

In addition, he stated that he only said those words with the intention to raise the entertainment value during the show. The 52-year old host said that his statement then should not be taken in the wrong context since it was not his intention to critique Sun's poor skills in the Chinese language.

In his post, Wu wrote that although it seemed like he poked fun on many artists who appeared in his shows, his intention was merely to make a lasting impression of the artists in the viewers' minds.

He wrote, "At the end of the day, the listeners always interpret the message of the speaker the way they want to, even if the latter had no ulterior motive," adding that he will just take it as an 'occupational hazard'.

On the one hand, Wu expressed his support for the late primes minister's bilingual policy in Singapore, pointing out that though he suffered a low point in his career, the popularity of his songs among Singaporeans and South-East Asians helped him regain his career in Taiwan.

TagsJacky Wu, Lee Kuan Yew, Stefanie Sun