Former NBA star Dwight Howard is receiving a lot of backlash this week for a comment he made in a promotional video.
Howard, who currently plays for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League, recently filmed a promo for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the beginning of the video, he referred to Taiwan as a country.
“Hello everyone, I’m Dwight Howard and since I came to Taiwan I’ve gained a whole new appreciation of this country,” the former NBA All-Star said. “This place makes me feel so much love and I experience so much hospitality with a friendly and great living environment with such a great diverse culture.”
After this video went public, a hashtag titled “HowardTaiwanindependence” had over 400 million views on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform.
Clearly, people in China didn’t appreciate that Howard referred to Taiwan as its own country.
Check out @DwightHoward sharing his impression of #Taiwan???????? with VP @ChingteLai! A country full of warmth, vitality & diversity—why not plan a #FunAndCozy trip & see for yourself?
sᴘᴇɴᴅ ᴀ ɴɪɢʜᴛ @ ᴛᴀɪᴡᴀɴ's ᴘʀᴇsɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴀʟ ᴏғғɪᴄᴇ ʙᴜɪʟᴅɪɴɢ
▶️https://t.co/fIne9NdFX0 pic.twitter.com/Rd9YrcgK7V— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) ???????? (@MOFA_Taiwan) May 11, 2023
China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite their split.
On Friday, Howard apologized for his remarks. He said, “If I offended anyone in China I apologize. It was not my intention to harm anyone with what I said in the commercial.”
Howard continued, “I have the utmost respect for Chinese people and utmost respect for Taiwanese people, so it was never my intent to disrespect nobody.”
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