Tony Hung Apologizes for Insulting Nurses
Known for his outspoken personality, Tony Hung‘s (洪永城) recent comment on the unfavorable status of nurses in society drew fire. After Tony’s comment drew fire for his insensitivity, he issued an immediate public apology.
Perhaps inspired by his experiences filming TVB nurse drama, Angel in the Making <實習天使>, Tony recently expressed his views on nurses, “Nurses don’t tend to have a highly-respected position in society, but their role in saving patients is in no way inferior to a doctor’s. From looking after the daily needs of patients, to providing comfort and emotional support, nurses are so important…” Tony’s well-meaning remarks however sparked controversy, as netizens felt that Tony sounded like he was putting down nurses. Netizens expressed that as a public figure, Tony should be more careful with his words.
In response to the netizens’ criticism, Tony apologized for not phrasing his words more carefully, and wrote, “My intentions behind the post were to highlight the extent of a nurse’s contributions, and to emphasize that a nurse is just as important as a doctor. In fact, nurses should receive more respect in society. This was what I had wanted to express. If you have the time, I hope that you can go beyond a surface reading of my words and discern the real meaning. But perhaps I did not phrase my words well, which led to many of you, especially those who work in the medical sector, being unhappy. I hope that everyone can accept my apology. My filming experiences have led me to truly realize the struggles and difficulties every nurse faces. I seriously respect you and your job.”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Jingles for JayneStars.com.
Well it’s true. The medical sector has largely ignored the contributions of nurses, but not just them. Other clinicians like lab techs, nurse’s aids, physician assistants, are ignored too. But there’s usually an uproar about the lack of respect for nurses when ppl usually don’t upset other professions. I wonder why.
“My intentions behind the post were to highlight the extent of a nurse’s contributions, and to emphasize that a nurse is just as important as a doctor. In fact, nurses should receive more respect in society.”
yeh right,his real intention is to promote this drama,but it wont work.
He did not need to apologize. He’s only speaking the truth. He can’t help it if there are netizens who are too stupid to decipher his clear as day meaning. Or they just refuse to see the truth.
@kidd are you that naive to not see the timing he speak about such things? not only this time but he previously made more of such statements to draw attention for a drama. wake up kidd.
@kolo But what he said was right. Nurse are not well respected compared to Dr but they probably do more of the brunt work in helping patients. They also do not get as much pay/raise for what they do. Like @kidd I don’t see why he have to apologize just because netizens love to complain. He is a nurse in this drama so it make sense why he will make comments like this. It’s people who’s making a big deal out of what he is trying to say.
@happybi lets assume what he said is from the bottom of his heart,then still i dont agree with what he said. to me both nurses and doctors are even respected they are both important in their own field. without one of them a hospital wouldnt work. he have to say for himself and not drag the whole society in his thought. this just show how narrow minded he is.
@kolo But he didn’t say Dr. are not important? Are we really that off in misinterpreting his words? As to me, I read that he thinks nurses are not well respected compare to Dr. even though they should be. So yes both equally important (personally I feel nurses are more important). And from my friends who are nurses what Tony said is true… Compared to Dr. they are not as well respected in their field even though they work just as hard and actually have to deal more with the patient.
@happybi maybe im too judgmental and think too fast the bad in ppl. maybe he mean it good and just to ask more respect for the profession of nurses,not a big deal.
@kolo no biggie but I am surprised that his saying could really trigger these different response from people!! As in totally opposite direction! Find is strange that’s all.
@happybi I read what Tony wrote in Chinese and didn’t find it offensive at all – which is why I was surprised at the negative response to his words. With that said though, in reading the comments of the netizen (the real-life nurse) who first took offense to his comment and posted a response saying he was insulting the profession (which is what essentially started this whole thing), it felt to me that she was actually pissed at TVB and their scriptwriters for their unrealistic portrayal of nurses and the shoddy way that they film what nurses and doctors do, which she felt misleads audiences (aside from the first sentence that mentioned Tony, practically her entire post was criticism of the series itself and TVB). Looks to me like Tony was just a convenient scapegoat who happened to bear the brunt of the criticism due to the timing of his post….
@llwy12 Thanks for clarifying! Make sense then. So Tony just got the blame for their anger toward the drama/TVB. Poor guy need a break!
@happybi You’re welcome! Not a fan of Tony’s, but I do feel sorry for him having to bear the brunt of netizens’ displaced anger. Unfortunately though, that’s how things usually work nowadays with the prevalence of social media where things can snowball out of control within minutes. Most people probably didn’t bother to read Tony’s original post carefully or trace back to that first netizen’s response and read through what she actually wrote (in which case it would’ve been obvious that the netizen was overreacting and actually taking out her anger towards TVB on Tony)….instead, they just jump on the media bandwagon and start criticizing him without even understanding what actually happened. In a sense, what Tony said in his ‘apology’ post is very valid – sometimes people just look at the surface level stuff and formulate their judgement on that without bothering to seek clarification. This is why I don’t blame some celebrities for not wanting to have anything to do with any type of social media (such as Weibo and Facebook) – it’s so easy for 1 netizen to misinterpret / misunderstand a celebrity’s post (especially if the netizen doesn’t like that celebrity) and then everyone else jumps in, the issue spreads and becomes convoluted, then the next thing we know, the celebrity becomes public enemy number one without even knowing what hit them. It’s the unfortunate reality of the world we live in today….
@llwy12 Can you direct me to the original post by the real life nurse? I want to read what she wrote.
@kidd It was on Facebook – one of the comments under Tony’s initial post. I had read it a few days ago prior to this whole apology thing. I’ll see if I can find it again but it’s probably buried now under the hundreds of additional comments that people posted since this issue surfaced. Who knows, the person might have deleted the post already too…
In the meantime, here’s the link to Tony’s original post on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/211154948962425/photos/a.211174188960501.51706.211154948962425/933946893349890/?type=3
Wait, if the English quote is translated correct or his quote was really written like that in English, I don’t understand why people are offended?????? He needs to grow a tailbone and stop apologizing for things that’s out of control. He can’t control how these cra-cra Netizen misinterprate his words. If he indeed meant to support the nurses, then explain that once again with verbal than move on. Don’t apologize for things you didn’t even do!
Ugh, people need to 1) grow some balls, 2) stop being so overly sensitive, 3) think their opinions and interpretations are set in stone and 4) stop putting words in people’s or stop putting words in people’s mouth. Lol.
@jjwong On the one hand, I agree that Tony shouldn’t have apologized, since he did nothing wrong in this instance — on the other hand though, I applaud him for taking the high road and diffusing the situation with a simple apology that still got his point across about his words being misconstrued. To be honest, I’m not quite sure if Tony even knows what actually happened, but regardless, I feel the way he handled it was wise, especially since this could’ve easily escalated into a social media verbal battle otherwise. Sometimes, with petty issues like this one, the best thing to do is just put an end to it as quickly as possible and move on – several months from now, most people probably won’t even remember that this insignificant incident occurred….
@llwy12 Your point is valid. However, I still stand firm that an apology is unnecessary. He could defuse the situation by clearing up his meanings and then move on since indeed he didn’t mean to offend anyone. Apologizing can be seem as the high road. But to me it’s like when you’re really innocent in a crime, is decided to take a plead deal to have a guaranteed lower sentence instead keep saying innocent with a chance of life in prison.
As you said, this is tiny dust in the wind. It’s insignificant. So I will no longer comment to the matters lol. I think we both wrote more than what this whole situation deserves lol.
@jjwong LOL. So true! 🙂
Poor Tony, he seems to always get into trouble with his harmless remarks. Tony is a honest guy, and he might be too direct in his words sometimes. But what Tony commented is true, and netizen need to fully understand and read his post not just the first few words before being enraged.
It seems like he is always being picked on with his speech and comment. Many would say that he have to be more careful when he speaks next time. But, if he starts minding every sentence and word,replies would become shallow, fake and insincere. Yes, he would offend less people, but he losses his true self?
@alien I would rather Tony keep on being his true self than becoming shallow and fake. That’s the thing I like about Arron Yan (Taiwanese singer, ex-Fahrenheit member). I don’t agree with everything he said, but, I appreciate his honesty.
Yeah, nothing wrong with what he said (if the english translation is correct)
I actually love tony character ,he look so sexy n is a brand new him , so it’s ok for me what he say or do cos is just a tvb series no big deal .
My sister has been a nurse for over 10 years and she says the same things. Nurses are under-respected in society. Nurses and their work are all around us, yet do not receive the same respect or appreciation as doctors or lawyers. Nurses and reception are usually the ones who get blasted by angry patients or doubted. I don’t get why peeps are angry over Tony’s comment. Nurses should be happy that he understands their situation.
@coralie Nurse’s aids is considered nurses actually. Just on different level.. and when peiple say nurses dont recieve enough respect, nurses aids included. As for lab tech, hello, they work in the lab. Have no direct contacts with patients. Did you know nurses is the first line to be bashed and spite on????? After patients and families vent their frustrations on nurses, then they calm down, and when doctors came, they behave appropriately. Nurses is humans too. They ain’t no punching bags!!!!
And tbh, nurses spent most time with patients. Not other allied health care. Now you wonder why??
@dramadrama well, not going to argue whether nurses’ aid are considered nurses, because they do not have the license to be considered nurses, therefore moot point. Lab techs can still interact with patients, not to the extent of nurses of course, but they do. Also while nurses do interact with pts more than most other professions, it doesn’t mean they interact with the pt 24/7. They do intervals just like other professions. When my dad was in the hospital, the nurse was nowhere to be seen. Only nurse’s aids.
To diminish the importance of other medical professions is also not very nice of you. There are many medical staffs that interact with pts a lot.
Being someone who works with nurses all the time, I agree they have a hard job but I dont think it is anymore difficult and out of proportion to a doctors. It’s just that doctors take on a different level and area of responsibility than nurses do.
Unless the general consensus is that people think nurses dont do much, which I dont think is true – then Im not sure what this undermining is.
Netizen most of them dislike Tony and also the characters he played so no biggie that most of his posts, words, whatever got marked. Not once but a lot of times. Netizens are so sensitive. Try to comprehend better