Jaejoong, a member of the K-Pop group JYJ, has received criticism from fans for an April Fool's Day joke related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 map tracker data, there's more than 877,000 global confirmed cases of COVID-19, and growing, on Wednesday, April 1, Jaejoong joked that he was among that number.
According to The New York Times, the performer, whose real name is Kim Jae-joong, had initially posted a message on Instagram saying that he had contracted COVID-19. In the now deleted message, he claimed to be hospitalized, writing, "Sorry to those who could have been infected because of me...It was because I lived carelessly, disregarding all of the cautions provided by the government and those around me."
Fans had immediately reacted with concern, The New York Times reported, and many had left well wishes for the star on Instagram and social media. It was only a little less than an hour later that he came clean, confessing that he didn't have coronavirus. “This prank was too much to be considered a simple April Fools’ Day joke, but many people expressed their worry for me during that short period of time," he said in a subsequent post.
As The Korea Herald reported in March, possible legal trouble could await those in South Korea who spread "false information" about COVID-19, since the country has laws against "obstruction of official duties and defamation."
It's unclear what, if any, possible legal ramifications the singer could face, but it is important to remember that coronavirus is no laughing matter, especially when misinformation is rampant. If you feel motivated to joke about coronavirus on April Fools' Day or any other day, how about donating to relief organizations instead?
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Teen Vogue has reached out to C-JeS Entertainment for comment.
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