Coronavirus: American basketball player apologizes after "a misunderstanding" in a Chinese hotel

Former Indiana Pacers player Joe Young, who lives in Nanjing, China, has apologized and pledged to abide by the rules of confinement after what he sees as a "misunderstanding" in a Chinese hotel where he is staying. placed in isolation.

Chinese media has published a series of text messages in which the 27-year-old former NBA back-keeper and a friend asked for food and water in the middle of the night, threatening to do so -Even if they had to wait. Young, who recently returned to China to end the basketball season suspended due to the spread of the new coronavirus, has caused a great deal of dissatisfaction on Chinese social networks where some people have asked for his removal to the United States.

"In the future, we will strictly comply with Chinese rules on preventing epidemics and improve our words and actions"

"We are sincerely sorry and apologize to the staff members for asking them to be served late at night which disturbed their sleep," said the American basketball player in a video posted on the Chinese social network. Weibo.

"In the future, we will strictly adhere to Chinese epidemic prevention rules and improve our words and actions," said Young in the video, which generated 900,000 views in 14 hours. "We will not cause any problems for the people around us and will not cause any misunderstandings. I love China, I love Nanjing and it is the truth, "he added.

He didn't want to come back to China

His club, the Nanjing Monkey Kings, said the player was tired after the return trip to China and that he missed his family, who remained in the United States. Young is among the foreign players who have returned to China in anticipation of the resumption of the championship, which is scheduled for mid-April. This date seems unlikely today despite a marked slowdown in cases of infection in the country, where the coronavirus appeared in December.

It is the second time in two weeks that the Houston native has provoked outraged reactions in China. On Twitter, he hinted that he did not want to return to the country, before deleting the tweet. Young also announced on Twitter Monday that he has donated 50,000 masks and 300 coveralls to hospital staff in the fight against coronavirus to the city of Houston.

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