The Canadian Embassy in Beijing has apologized after it was reported that it had ordered customized t-shirts reading “Wuhan” in the style of Wu-Tang Clan’s logo.
Even though the hip-hop group’s logo is a stylized “W,” users from social network Weibo had apparently spotted an image of a bat in photos of the t-shirts, per Reuters. Scientists suspect that bats could have carried the coronavirus before it spread to humans in Wuhan, China in 2019.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told Associated Press that China has called on Canadian officials to “thoroughly investigate the incident and give China a clear explanation.”
The Canadian media, however, has defended that the logo is a “W” in homage to the hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, and claims that the shirts aren’t made to mock China’s COVID-19 response. It has also apologized for the “misunderstanding.”
“The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the Embassy shows a stylized W, and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of Embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020,” the spokesperson for the Canadian embassy said.
China’s Foreign Ministry says it has lodged a solemn representation with the Canadian Embassy over reports staff ordered t-shirts last year with “Wuhan” and a “bat symbol.” Per blogger Zhou Xiaoping, this is the image. Any hip-hop fan can tell you though that’s a W for the Wu pic.twitter.com/ooTFzh2oRn
— Austin Ramzy (@austinramzy) February 1, 2021
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