“Bing Dwen Dwen started talking. I was so disillusioned,” said one comment on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. Others agreed, calling the voice “disgusting” and saying they couldn’t finish watching.
Bing Dwen Dwen — or rather, a reporter in an inflatable Bing Dwen Dwen suit — was interviewing Chinese freeskier Yang Shuorui. However, the content of the interview was lost in the storm of outrage online.
The backlash came quickly and seems to have caught the network by surprise — CCTV had promoted the program before it aired but pulled it from its website on Wednesday.
Censors also tried to stem the outcry, banning certain hashtags on Weibo like “Bing Dwen Dwen started talking.”
But not before many had a chance to share their disappointment.
“I have been hurt…when I opened (the online shopping platform) Taobao and wanted to buy a Bing Dwen Dwen key ring, I would think of the voice of a middle-aged man,” one social media user wrote.
“I don’t want to hear the ‘uncle’ voice of the Bing Dwen Dwen. It’s just a little cute panda,” said another.
Merchandise for the winter sports-equipped panda has been “selling like hotcakes,” according to state media, with the Beijing organizing committee making a request to boost swag production to satisfy fans.
But the mascot’s popularity may take a hit after the latest outrage, which even had some users checking the rule books to point out that Olympic mascots are not meant to talk under International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, in order to maintain a gender neutral status.
The Beijing Olympic Committee had reportedly signed a contract with the IOC prohibiting Bing Dwen Dwen from talking, according to Chinese state-run news outlet the Procuratorate Daily.
