Once upon a time, Hong Kong stars Hacken Lee (李克勤) and Andy Lau (刘德华) attended the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta to cover the event on behalf of Hong Kong broadcasting company TVB. Unfortunately, their trip was met with embarrassment after the two celebs got kicked out of a ceremony – and only recently did the truth behind what happened was unveiled.
While on a recent TVB programme about the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hacken spoke about the embarrassing incident with him and Andy at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. At the time, the two stars were appointed as TVB Olympic ambassadors and sent to the United States to cover the sporting event. As they had to interview the Hong Kong team during a flag-raising ceremony, the two entered a restricted area without permission. Unfortunately, the Chairman of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee caught them and kicked them out of the area.
The incident made waves in Hong Kong because Hacken and Andy were said to have trespassed during an international event. Until now, many netizens were curious about what happened during the incident. However, TVB sports commentator Eric Chung (鍾志光) admitted that he was the culprit behind Hacken and Andy getting kicked out of the ceremony because he was the one who asked them to enter the restricted area to interview the Hong Kong athletes.
On the show, Eric explained that he had joined flag-raising ceremonies at other sporting events and assumed the two singers would be safe. Eric had then asked Hacken and Andy to pose for a photo with the athletes during the ceremony. Unfortunately, as the two celebs wore outfits similar to the official uniform worn by Hong Kong athletes, the Chairman assumed Hacken and Andy were deliberately pretending to be athletes and thus kicked them out.
Eric apologised for the incident and said that Hacken and Andy were only following his instructions – but he didn’t think they would get in trouble. Nevertheless, he thanked the two stars for “protecting” him by not revealing what happened then. While it may be 28 years too late, we’re glad Hacken and Andy could finally clear their name from the incident.
Source: China Press
