Chapter 896: Stop vilifying the national table tennis team, OK?
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The open letter's effect was huge!
It got the people's attention and everyone now wanted to know what was going on. A lot of those who were not involved also came to watch the commotion. After disturbing the music industry several hours ago, Zhang Ye had now offended the sporting world as well! A lot of people found it both annoying and funny and felt that this fellow was too much of a warrior who could not rest on his laurels!
How would this conflict turn out?
Would Zhang Ye apologize?
Who would the public side with?
Everyone's curiosity was piqued as the people observed the situation unblinkingly!
When the open letter was published, it was followed by the appearance of countless athletes from the sporting world who also voiced their stand on the situation!
Liu Yifeng's Weibo: "I am seriously unable to take this lying down. Today, the national table tennis team must surely make its stand known! Otherwise, if we continue staying silent, we might get mistaken as easily pushed around! A vulgar and wicked artist like Zhang Ye should be severely boycotted! @ZhangYe! Apologize immediately!"
"Ptui!"
"How laughable! You guys were silent?"
"Didn't you guys already start scolding 'A Letter to Home' during the live interview? After Han Li had his turn scolding it, his teammate took over the scolding, and after the teammate finished scolding, you took over the scolding. Every word that was uttered from your mouths were slandering Zhang Ye by pinning the blame for the loss to the Korean team onto Zhang Ye. You guys were really 'silent,' huh! If you call this staying silent, then what would it be like when you guys are not?! I suppose that would mean that you guys would be bombing Tiananmen then?"
"Hahahaha! That's a classic reply, previous poster!"
"This idiot!"
"@LiuYifeng! If you don't know how to make a statement properly, please get lost! Stop embarrassing yourself!"
"Head Coach Liu, your actions are too disappointing today!"
"You guys seem to be taking it for granted that you can criticize others, but when others do it to you, you won't accept the criticism? I speak as a neutral party regarding this matter. Although I can find some fault with Zhang Ye's skit's lines, at the very least, Zhang Ye is much more gracious than you all. He did not complain like a pussy after being criticized by others, or denounce others and insist that they issue an apology, nor did he appeal for his fans to resist the criticism. All he did was criticize back by himself! Unlike you all! Comparing you people and Zhang Ye, whether it is conducting yourself or handling affairs, he is far better than you people!"
"Apologize, your sister!"
Liu Yifeng had only just sent out this Weibo post, but the comments below had already filled up with over 200 replies, scaring Liu Yifeng. After reading the comments, he got so angry that his face turned green. Out of all the comments below, none of them supported him and were criticizing him instead!
It was cut and thrust!
The war gong had sounded!
National table tennis team member Li Qi posted: "Boycott Zhang Ye! Calling out to my fans to boycott all of Zhang Ye's future shows from now on!"
Very quickly, Zhang Ye's fans arrived at his Weibo!
"Hey, friend, where are your fans at?"
"Are you on single-player mode? Where are your forces that you called upon?"
"We even purposely waited a minute but didn't see anyone reply to your post, so we thought you might be lonely and decided to help you out instead. We reject zero replies. Don't thank us, just call us the red scarves!"
"Classmate Li Qi, would you like me to pretend to be your fan for a while? At least you won't look bad this way. Otherwise, by appealing to your fans and having no response from anyone, wouldn't that be really embarrassing?"
How face smacking!
When Li Qi saw this, he nearly vomited blood!
At the same time, the national soccer team's current captain, Han Zhaoguang, appeared. He stood in firm solidarity with the national table tennis team. "Supporting Coach Liu Yifeng, supporting the table tennis team. Such matters really should not be tolerated and we should get angry if there is a need to get angry. Otherwise, no one would know where our bottom line is. That skit of Zhang Ye's was really over the line! Even if Han Li criticized you a little during his interview, you shouldn't be scolding table tennis this way!"
Yet another soccer player posted on Weibo: "Giving my support to our brothers from the table tennis team! I've never liked that Zhang Ye, so we should just ignore him!"
"Yo, who did I just see?"
"Han Zhaoguang? You have the cheek to appear here?"
"'Useless Feet' has appeared!"
"Hurry up and go back into hiding, stop disgracing yourself here. This fight here is between Teacher Zhang and the table tennis team, what has it got to do with you? Since when has the sporting world been so united?"
"Come on, we'll fight whoever comes!"
"Yeah, we'll fight whoever comes!"
Second place finisher of the previous Badminton World Championships: "@ZhangYe, please apologize to the table tennis team!"
A little-known female tennis player: "Sports are sacred. They're glorious, they're healthy, and they should not be vilified by others! I won't be watching Zhang Ye's shows from now on!"
"Sports are sacred? Should not be vilified?"
"Does that mean that Teacher Zhang Ye was born unconsecrated and can be vilified at any time?"
"If the table tennis team vilifies Zhang Ye first, with the head coach and the team members slandering Zhang Ye, can you call that sacred behavior? Is that what you call being sacred? Bull fucking shit!"
"You athletes are really united, eh, coming together to pester Teacher Zhang Ye? Alrighty then! Let's see which side has more people!"
"Zhang Ye doesn't need someone like you watching his shows! In any case, I won't be watching any of your matches from now on!"
"Ditto!"
"Ditto!"
"You've been blacklisted!"
"Ditto!"
When the number of comments with "ditto" ended, there were already over a thousand replies. A lot of those replies were also from genuine tennis fans too and they were serious about not watching this person's matches anymore in the future!
When that female tennis player saw this, she was dumbfounded!
People from the basketball team.
People from the swim team.
People from the track and field team.
A lot of the athletes and coaches from the sporting world came out to show their support!
But without an exception, when their Weibo posts were made, they were immediately met with endless scolding, condemnation, and ridicule from the netizens! If they said a word, the troll army replied with a hundred words! If they scolded with a sentence, the troll army scolded back at them with a thousand sentences! It wasn't like these sports stars did not have their own fans, but theirs only numbered a limited quantity. After all, a sports star's popularity would definitely not be comparable to that of an entertainment industry's celebrity. The main issue here was that Zhang Ye's "Everything is Great" and "A Letter to Home" touched a lot of people and converted many of them from neutrals to fans or haters to fans. Zhang Ye's popularity at the moment was unbeatable and even many of the fans of those sports stars were unconditionally supporting Zhang Ye on this matter!
A sports star who had been overly harsh with his post even saw his followers drop from 50,000 to 41,000! He had lost 9,000 fans in total!
"Bunch of troublemaking clowns!"
"Idiot!"
"You wanna fight with numbers? Come at us!"
"Did you guys think that you could shape public opinion just because a bunch of you came out to post on Weibo? Bullshit! Have a look at yourselves! Aren't you disgusting?"
"I like table tennis too, but the table tennis team is not right this time, so I will scold whoever comes!"
"I won't let you people have any peace today!"
"Anyone who criticizes Zhang Ye today will get a piece of me!"
"Denouncement? Alright then! Let's see who's going to denounce who!"
"Idiot!"
Countless netizens had rushed up in support of Zhang Ye!
There were too many people! So much so that it was uncountable! It was as though there were a sea of people!
The athletes who had come forward in support of the table tennis team did not expect this situation whatsoever and were dumbfounded. Looking at all those waves of scolding they were getting and their follower count on Weibo dropping, they finally managed to grasp the difference in quantity between their fans and Zhang Ye's fans! It was in a completely different league! Even if all of their followers were added together, they might not exceed half of what Zhang Ye had!
How could this be?
Their hearts turned cold!
The situation was too lopsided!
At this moment, Han Li posted again on Weibo: "I started playing table tennis at 8 and got onto the team at 11. At 18, I officially debuted with the national team in my first match. The injuries I've had, the difficulties I've encountered, who among you could understand? Practicing in the winter cold with temperatures below freezing, practicing in summer heat with temperatures over 30°C. If I'm injured, I have to practice. Even if I'm sick, I still have to practice. What table tennis is to me is just like what my parents are to me. It has become my guiding belief in life and I will not allow anyone to insult it!"
A few people from the sporting world stood forward.
A coach from the field soccer: "It's very difficult for an athlete!"
A coach of the table tennis team: "I watched Little Han grow up and have seen all the effort that he has put in all these years. This kid is really hardworking, just like all the other members of the national table tennis team. You all only see the glory they experience when they are playing their matches, not the hard work they put in behind the scenes. But now, it seems like there is someone who wants to vilify table tennis! I really do not know what such people are thinking!"
Some of the netizens started laughing in ridicule.
"Stop talking! The more I read the grosser it sounds!"
"I should be asking what you all are thinking instead!"
"Are you the only ones who have given your lives to something? Are you the only ones who have worked hard? Does that mean Teacher Zhang has not worked hard? Does it mean that he has not given his life to something? Then what makes you all think that you have the right to criticize him!? Fuck!"
"'A Letter to Home' sung by Zhang Ye is the most touching song I've heard in recent years, yet you guys used it as an excuse and reason for losing the match? And even vilifying the song? Based on what! Why is it justified for you guys to vilify others but others cannot criticize you?"
"You still lost the match after putting in so much effort? Then how shitty does that make you! Just look at how Teacher Zhang fights against the Koreans. When has he ever lost before!"
The more that these people from the sporting world tried to support their own actions, the more it angered the netizens who supported Zhang Ye!
Suddenly, Zhang Ye's Weibo status lit up as he came online!
Zhang Ye posted: "Stop criticizing the table tennis team!"
Liu Yifeng was stunned.
Han Li smiled, thinking that Zhang Ye had finally shown himself!
Zhang Ye's fans were also stunned.
"Teacher Zhang is finally here!"
"Stop our criticizing?"
"But why? Why should we stop criticizing them?"
"Could he be thinking of apologizing?"
"What?"
"Please don't say that!"
"That's not possible!"
Others from the sporting world turned their attention over here in an instant. Every one of them was looking excited. Having gotten scolded by Zhang Ye's fans for such a long time just now, they felt oppressed and wronged. Now that the person in question had finally shown himself and even asked his own fans to stop their criticism, it was clear as day that he had finally bowed to the pressure and decided to apologize! It looked like their sporting world's influence was still there! The sporting world had banded together today with a full show of force and even a celebrity of Zhang Ye's status could not take them lightly!
On Weibo, it seemed as though time had stopped in that moment. Everyone was paying attention to Zhang Ye's Weibo and could not understand why he told them to stop their scolding. Was he really going to seek a compromise?
However, what followed in Zhang Ye's next Weibo post made all the netizens laugh like mad!
Zhang Ye posted objectively: "Stop criticizing. Everyone, please stop criticizing. Don't you all know how hard the table tennis team has worked? The team members insisted on taking part in the tournament even with a high fever of 62°C as they didn't want to disappoint the fans and audience. They practiced their swings 40 hours a day even though they suffered a comminuted fracture in both their wrists. They don't behave arrogantly even though they have 30 billion fans around the world. Every year during the 29th and 30th of February, they even organize a charity match in which the 2 trillion US dollars generated in attendance money get donated to Swiss children who cannot afford to attend school. Therefore, please stop vilifying our table tennis team, OK?"
The head coach, Liu Yifeng, was dumbfounded!
Han Li was dumbfounded!
Those who had come in support of the sporting world were also dumbfounded!
At that instant, all of them nearly vomited blood!