KUALA LUMPUR: One of China's well-known television hosts, Jin Xing, has come under fire from Netizens for her open support of Ukraine.
Singapore entertainment portal 8 Days reported today that Jin, 54, criticised Russia's invasion of Ukraine on her Weibo account on March 1, and called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "lunatic" who threatened world peace.
Jin also appealed to Netizens to "stop Russia's war against Ukraine" and pray for peace to prevail.
She attached a screenshot of a CCTV newscaster in a yellow shirt and blue blazer, and claimed that she was wearing Ukrainian national colours in support of the country.
"Judging from the colours of Miss CCTV's clothes, she supports Ukraine," said Jin.
Jin's post angered Netizens, and many slammed her for jumping to conclusions about the newscaster's support of Ukraine.
"Jin Xing, are you crazy? Who told you about CCTV's stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict?" said a Netizen.
"If wearing yellow and blue means supporting Ukraine, does that mean you support Germany over China?" asked another Netizen, alluding to the fact that Jin's husband of 17 years is German national Heinz Oidtmann.
Some Netizens also accused Jin of doctoring the newscaster's photo, and claimed that she was actually wearing yellow and green.
CCTV later responded to Jin's post, saying that the newscaster was indeed wearing a green jacket and yellow shirt.
"We are guided by party spirit, support culture and express objectivity," said a statement from CCTV.
It is learnt that Jin, who subsequently deleted her Weibo post, has been banned for "violating laws and regulations".
Jin, of Chinese-Korean descent, began her entertainment career as a dancer, choreographer and actress.
In 2013, she became a judge on China's first season of So You Think You Can Dance?
Jin is multi-lingual and speaks Korean, Japanese, French and Italian besides English and Chinese.